


Ghosts of What We Used to Be

by form_troy_boltron



Series: Ghosts of What We Used to Be universe [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adam/Shiro (Voltron) - Freeform, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-verse AU, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Lots of Angst, M/M, Shadam, Shiro/Adam (Voltron) - Freeform, Wedding, Wedding Fluff, adam deserved better, adashi, and shiro ofc, blade of marmora, first fic yeet, i can finally tag this as happy ending i'm so happy, klance, shadam is canon king, so i'm going to give him the world, vld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-03 23:45:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15829374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/form_troy_boltron/pseuds/form_troy_boltron
Summary: Months after Sendak’s attack, Team Voltron decides to finish their fight with Zarkon’s empire. But when they take the fight to Honerva, the paladins realize that a lot of things have to go right for them to win the final battle.





	1. Memories

If he’d been told a year ago that he would be back in space, steering a giant warship (which also happened to be a colossal humanoid robot) toward the alien witch who’d tortured, cloned, and literally killed him, Shiro would have laughed. A year ago today, Team Voltron had just entered the Milky Way galaxy, and everyone was ecstatic to see their families again, to get their heroes’ welcome back on Earth, and maybe, just maybe, get some much needed rest. It was just before they’d gotten the distress call.

 

But, here he is, about to send the Atlas through a wormhole, knowing that Haggar awaits on the other side. He swallows the lump rising in his throat, and reminds himself the Atlas will only get involved in the fight if Voltron needs backup. Theoretically, Voltron should be able to defeat the witch’s armies, but Shiro can’t help but worry.

 

_What if the paladins are caught,_ he thinks, in spite of himself _, and Atlas can’t reach them in time? Will they be sent to labor camps, or will they be experimented on like he was? Will they be forced to fight each other in the gladiator arena, not able to leave until there’s only one of them left? Or maybe they’ll just get blown to smithereens, like Adam was_. Shiro feels a pang of guilt as he thinks of is ex-fiancé, sent on a suicide mission just before Voltron arrived, who is now just one name of thousands on a memorial wall.

 

“Captain?” Veronica’s concerned voice breaks through his thoughts, and Shiro realizes that his co-pilots are all staring at him expectantly. Shiro can tell they all want some sort of uplifting speech, but he just can’t come up with the words. He settles on a short, simple sentence.

 

“Let’s end this.”

 

With that, Coran signals Allura to open up the wormhole. Seconds later, the familiar blue, swirling vortex opens up in front of them. Shiro takes a deep breath, and guides the Atlas into the churning abyss.

 

Veronica, Iverson, and Sam Holt, having never experienced wormhole travel before watched, open-mouthed, as the Atlas shoots through the wormhole and, seconds later, enters a foreign solar system.

 

“Shiro! It looks like we’re in the Andromeda galaxy!” Veronica seems shocked.

 

“It seems like Haggar was planning to attack Earth soon,” Coran says with a frown. “Why, she’s practically on top of us! How could she get this close without detection?”

 

“You think two million light years away from Earth is CLOSE?!”

 

“Veronica,” Iverson warns.

 

“Coran, Earth tech hasn’t caught up to Altean tech yet. We’re doing our best to integrate it into our system, but it’s taking a while. We can’t even detect signals from the furthest areas of our own galaxy yet,” Sam explains. “You’ll have to be patient with us.”

 

While Coran mutters something to himself, Shiro completes touchdown on an unextraordinary moon of a nearby uninhabited planet. He turns on the coms, and watches as they boot up.

 

“Paladins, do you copy?”

 

“Loud and clear, Shiro!” Veronica smiles a bit at the sound of her little brother’s voice.

 

“Yeah, it’s almost like we’re all on board the same ship or something,” Keith grumbles from the black lion.

 

“Keith, I know you’re itching to fly again, but Voltron gives off a distinct signal that the galra are sure to be scanning for, especially here. By coming here aboard the Atlas, we should be able to catch them off guard,” Shiro reassures.

 

“Yellow likes it on the Atlas. I think the hangars here remind her of the castle.”

 

“Well, I know I like it here! The combination of human and altean tech here is ingenious! You really outdid yourself here, Dad.”

 

Sam smiles and responds “Couldn’t have done it without you, Katie. Why, you and Matt have made so many upgrades that it’s hardly my ship anymore!”

 

“Let’s go over the plan,” Shiro buts in. Since his return to Earth, Shiro hasn’t liked to sit still and do nothing. Small talk infuriates him now, and if he isn’t doing anything, he has time to think about both his past and his future, both of which fill him with a sense of dread now. Plus, seeing all of the paladins reunited with their families makes him happy, but at the same time, reminds him of the reunions he’ll never have. It’s best for Shiro to just go wherever life pulls him in the present, not looking forward or back.

 

“Lance and Hunk, you’ll find the prisoner’s chambers and make connections with the prisoners. Convince them to start a rebellion in about twelve hours, just before Voltron comes. Haggar’s attention will be split between the prisoner’s uprising and Voltron’s attack, which will be crucial if we are to win this.

 

“Krolia, you’ll accompany them. You know the layout of Haggar’s ship, probably even better than I do from my time there, and you blend in. When you three get in, Krolia will act like she’s a galra guard, moving two unruly prisoners back to the holding grounds. Krolia, make sure that Hunk and Lance are not taken to the gladiator ring, or else Haggar will know about them. She pays special attention to potentially strong fighters, and we don’t want anyone to get involved with her yet.

 

“While you three are with the prisoners, Pidge will work on compromising the ship’s programming. Keith, you’ll go with her because she needs a galra to unlock the system. Once you’ve opened the system, you’ll cover her from the inside. Romelle, you’ll use your camouflaging ability to appear as a galra soldier. Your job is to keep other galra out of where pidge and Keith are by distracting the other galra with talk. We can’t risk any violence because of the attention it will bring.”

 

“Oh, thank King Alfor, I don’t have to fight anyone!”

 

“Allura and Kolivan, you’ll infiltrate the galra and try to gather intel. According to the galra’s recent communications, a shipment of new soldiers is arriving within the hour. Kolivan, try to contact as many blades as you can on the ship, and notify them of our plan.

 

“And remember, coms will be down until Pidge can reprogram the ship. Until she gives the signal, you’re on your own. Rely on your teammates and your instincts to guide you, and we won’t fail. Everything clear?”

 

With a resounding yes, the team members each take off on their separate missions. As the minutes stretch into hours with no signal from Pidge, the Atlas crew grows more and more anxious. They try to entertain themselves by checking coms over and over, making sure every system on the Atlas is up and running. Coran, who’s been awake for over two days straight, falls asleep in his chair in hour two. Veronica jokes that lance is probably flirting with some female prisoner he found, and the crew members laugh.

 

“Actually, Veronica, you’d be surprised,” Shiro says. “Lance’s time in space has really changed him. He doesn’t have as much interest in women anymore, but when he does, you can tell that he’s not just being shallow. In fact,” Shiro chuckles, “a few weeks ago, Lance asked me about how I found out that I liked boys. I think he may be coming to terms with feelings he wasn’t mentally ready to accept.”

 

Veronica looks over at Shiro and her eyes fill with tears. With a sniffle, she looks down at her feet and says, “Shiro, thanks for keeping him safe out there. When he was announced as missing, I felt like it was all my fault that he was gone. I kept telling myself that if I had paid more attention to him at the Garrison, maybe I could have saved him. I was so afraid that he would never come back, that I’d never be able to tell him how much I love him.” Suddenly, she runs over and hugs him. Shiro gives her an awkward pat on the shoulder as she says, “You’ll never know how much that means to me.”

 

Stiffening, Shiro steps back. “Oh, I think I have some idea,” Shiro says through a forced smile. _Except my story didn’t have a happy ending_.

 

“Shiro, I feel the same way as her. You protected both of my children while I couldn’t, and I’ll be forever grateful for that,” Sam says, setting down his coffee mug.

 

“Well, I was lucky enough to not have any family members stuck out in space, but I sure do appreciate you protecting my family here on Earth. Thanks to you, I’ll get to watch my daughter grow up on her own planet,” Iverson adds.

 

“What?! Iverson, you have a daughter?” Veronica asks.

 

Shiro wanted to say something about Adam, but the conversation had moved on without him. A small part of him feels bitter. If he protected all of his teammates in space, why couldn’t they have protected one man on Earth? _Then again,_ Shiro thinks _, I should have been the one protecting him. I became so focused on defending the universe that I lost sight of who I was fighting to get back to._

 

Of course, Shiro hadn’t lost everything. He still has Keith, and he’s so proud of his adoptive little brother. Going to space had given Keith closure and helped him figure out who he is. Shiro, on the other hand, has more unanswered questions than ever after his time in space. He starts to imagine what his life could have been if he hadn’t boarded the blue lion that day with the other paladins. If he hadn’t gone to Kerberos. If he hadn’t had such a bitter parting with Adam because there was nowhere Shiro wanted to be more than by his side.

 

Shiro becomes increasingly more fidgety, and soon he can’t bear sitting doing nothing any longer. Sometime during hour 3, Shiro abruptly stands and tells the team he’s going to do a perimeter check. Shiro can’t stand the others’ conversation about their families and their plans for after the war is over any longer.

 

While Shiro’s suiting up, he hears a knock on his door. Slightly startled, he scrambles into the rest of his paladin armor, then opens the door.

 

“Iverson!” Shiro exclaims, surprised. His former superior is standing before him, shifting uncomfortably.

 

“So, you’re wearing the Alteans’ armor?” Iverson asks in a gruff voice.

 

“Ah, yeah,” Shiro responds, glancing downwards as he says, “I guess it’s just habit.” Shiro hadn’t even remembered that he had Earth tech armor now. The last time he used that armor was when he fought Sendak. “Any news from the paladins?”

 

“Right! That’s what I came here to tell you. Holt sent out her signal, and we have vitals for all of our fighters. Everyone is in stable condition.” At this statement, Shiro exhales a relieved sigh. “Apparently, Holt had to do a ton of hacking before she could open the communication channel. Also, she had to hack computers in several locations on the ship, and moving with Kogane and Romelle without being detected was quite a process. Holt still has work to do, but she says she’ll be done within a few hours.”

 

“Thank you.” Shiro waits for Iverson to move out of the doorway, but it seems like he needs to say something else. Iverson keeps looking down at his feet, as if trying to find the right words for whatever he wants to say. After about a minute of uncomfortable silence, Iverson jams his hand into his pocket and pulls something out. His face softens a bit (Shiro didn’t think this was possible, but Iverson looks slightly less stern.)

 

“After the battle with the Galra, we had to clean up around the Garrison. We had to reorganize our ranks and rebuild our defenses.” Shiro wondered where Iverson was going with this. Doesn’t he remember that Shiro was there for the reconstruction process? “We also had to gather up the belongings of members who-“ He pauses. “Members who didn’t make it,” he finishs, visibly uncomfortable. Iverson reaches his hand out to Shiro, and cool metal touches Shiro’s palm. Shiro gapes at the object, a relic of his past life, and runs his fingers around its circumference to make sure it’s real.

 

“He would have wanted you to have his things. There’s a couple of boxes of his things in Hangar 8, but he said that if anything happened to him, he was relying on me to give this to you in person,” Iverson rumbles.

 

“He... kept the ring...” is all Shiro can manage to choke out. Shiro is determined not to cry in front of his past teacher and commander, but he’s having a hard time choking back the hot tears forming in his eyes. Iverson puts his hand on Shiro’s shoulder and finally meets the younger man’s eyes.

 

“I was as upset as the next man when the Kerberos mission failed, but Adam was something else. Just after the news broke, he barged into the command room and demanded to know what happened. He was livid, Shirogane. We actually had to put him in house arrest,” Iverson laughs. Shiro smiles a bit as he imagines Adam breaking into a room without clearance, demanding to know where his fiancé was.

 

_Ex-fiancé_ , Shiro reminds himself.

 

“When he was deemed stable enough to be released, the first thing Adam did was ask when the next mission to Kerberos was. He was actually assigned to pilot a ship to Kerberos a couple of years after you vanished, but the mission was cancelled because of funding issues. He was heartbroken. Adam couldn’t bring himself to pilot ships anymore, and almost left the Garrison.

 

“But then, months later, Samuel Holt arrives on Earth with news of Voltron, and, by extent, you. After all these years of being told that you were dead, Adam finally had hope again, and he quickly became our top pilot. When the Galra started to invade, Adam was always the first to volunteer to fight them.

 

“A few days before his last mission, Adam pulled me aside. He asked that if he didn’t get to see you again, that I’d tell you he was sorry. He said that every day that went by after the launch, he felt worse about what he’d said to you. After whatever happened between you two, he still loved you, and he wanted to start over with you.”

 

Shiro’s crying now, really crying. Tears stream down his face as he sobs uncontrollably. He can’t remember the last time he’s cried like this. After giving an awkward goodbye, Iverson lumbers out of the room, giving Shiro some much needed privacy.

 

Minutes later, Shiro exits the Atlas, his eyes still red and swollen. He uses his jetpack to propel himself away from the Atlas, away from the responsibility, away from the pain. Shiro jumps from asteroid to asteroid, and a memory surfaces.

 

_“Hurry up, Takashi!”_

_It’s summertime, and Shiro is fifteen. His roommate and best friend, Adam, is standing on the opposite shore of a river, moonlight turning his hair silver. During his most recent school year, Shiro realized he had feelings for Adam, but he doesn’t want to risk ruining their friendship, so he locked his feelings away. Out of the blue, Adam had invited Shiro to come over to his house, saying that his brothers were driving him up the wall, and it would be great to have a friend over to “restore his sanity.” Shiro wasn’t quite sure if Adam was joking about his sanity or not, because Adam seemed to be leading Shiro deeper and deeper into the woods. At nighttime. With no way to contact anyone._

_“Adam, where are we going?! It’s almost midnight, and we’re running around in the middle of a forest,” Shiro cried. “And if you think I’m going to jump across these stepping stones, you’re crazy!”_

_Adam shoots a grin back at him. “Are you scared, Takashi?” he teases. Shiro looks at the slick rocks jutting out of the current, and thinks he might be. Shiro takes a deep breath, and starts to hop across the stones. He tries not to think about how he can’t see the bottom of the river, and only focuses on where his feet are. “You’re doing great! Just a few more stones,” Adam calls encouragingly. Shiro looks up to see Adam’s beautiful smile, and can’t help but notice how his whole face lights up when he smiles. Adam’s hazel eyes are focused on Shiro, earnestly awaiting him. Shiro’s confidence swells, and he takes a leap toward Adam._

_He feels his feet slipping out from underneath him, and the next thing Shiro knows, he’s completely submerged, and with only one thought on his mind:_ I can’t swim. _Shiro tumbles around underwater, helplessly trying to fight the current._

_Suddenly, Shiro feels a hand in his own, and he’s tugged to the surface. Adam pulls him onshore and sits next to him. “OhmygodTakashi!! I didn’t know you couldn’t swim why didn’t you say something holy shit you could have drowned oh my god you scared the shit out of me oh my god!!” Adam’s eyebrows knit together and he stares at Shiro, waiting for him to confirm that he’s alright. But Shiro can only think of one thing._

_“You... held my hand,” Shiro finally murmurs, a smile spreading across his face. He knows that he’s a blushing, sopping wet mess, but he can’t help the warm feeling rising up inside him. To Shiro’s surprise, Adam’s face turns pink, his blush just barely visible in the moonlight. After a moment of awkward silence, Shiro has convinced himself that he imagined Adam blushing, and he realizes the implications of what he just said to Adam. But before he can say anything, Adam looks at Shiro with a soft smile, and laughs a bit. Adam leans in, and his lips meet Shiro’s._

_When Adam pulls away, he chuckles and says, “Next time you want to hold my hand, just ask. Now,” he adds, grabbing Shiro’s hand again, “let’s go where I wanted to show you.”_

 

And suddenly, Shiro isn’t running away from the Atlas, he’s running towards Adam. He’s fifteen years old again, jumping across the stepping stones. Shiro can see Adam on the other end of the shore, but as he keeps leaping from rock to rock, Adam gets further and further away from him. He strays far away from the Atlas, away from safety, but what’s the point of being safe if Shiro doesn’t have him? Shiro can’t turn back now, he can’t leave Adam. Even though the river’s widening, taking Adam away from him, Shiro presses on. But when he tries to make his next jump, Shiro suddenly feels himself being pulled in a different direction, and falls into the river. He’s dragged along by the sharp current, and flails against it with all his might, but then he feels a pair of arms grab him and yank him upwards. He looks up, expecting to see Adam fretting over him.

 

Instead, he sees the mask of a Druid inches from his face. Adam is gone, the forest is gone, replaced by the inside of a Galra plane.

 

Shiro tries to struggle, but the Druid has already drugged him, and his attempts to get free become pitiful. He tries to fight the leaden feeling spreading through his body, but his consciousness is fading. Before he blacks out, Shiro hears the Druid speaking into its com system.

 

“Tell Haggar the Champion has returned.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So this is my first voltron fic AND my first fic on this site! I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Poor Shiro can’t seem to catch a break, huh? Well, don’t worry, he’s got a BIG surprise headed his way. 
> 
> The next chapter is going to be about what the paladins were up to on Haggar’s ship. I already have it written, but I don’t want to post two chapters in a row. I’ll probably post it within twelve hours of posting this one.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!!!


	2. Preparation

Lance, Hunk, and Krolia reach Haggar’s ship first. Pidge had equipped two Earth ships with the cloaking tech on the green lion specifically for this mission, but even with invisibility, Hunk can’t help but be nervous. There are so many moving parts in this plan, too many to count. Hunk doesn’t need Slav to know there’s probably close to zero realities where everything turns out alright. He bites his lip and tries to focus on steering the ship toward one of the entrances of Haggar’s cruiser.

 

Lance notices his friend’s uneasiness and walks over to him. Putting a hand on Hunk’s shoulder, Lance says “Hey buddy. I know you’re nervous. Any sane person would be in this situation. I’m sure as hell nervous. But you know what? I’m not going to let anything happen to you, and I know you won’t let anything happen to me. We’ve got each others’ backs.” Hunk looks up at Lance and smiles, silently thanking him. “Plus,” Lance adds with a smirk, “We have Keith’s kickass alien mom by our side. You’ll protect us, right, Krolia?”

 

Without looking up from her blade, she responds, “Depends.” The boys look at each other, a bit scared. Krolia looks up and sighs. “I was trying to make a joke. You are paladins of Voltron, and invaluable in the protection of the universe. I will protect you to the best of my ability.”

 

“Hey, tha-“

 

“The door!” Krolia points at the cruiser’s side, where a squadron of galra ships are preparing to enter a hangar. Hunk quickly guides the craft through the door and lands, being careful not to hit any of the other landing fighters. Once the hangar seems relatively clear, Krolia exits the craft with a simple “wait here” addressed to the two confused paladins. Moments later, she returns to the seemingly empty space and knocks on where the door should be. Lance peeks through the window, then opens the door to reveal Krolia in a galra prison guard’s uniform. She hands two piles of fabric to Lance and Hunk and says, “Change into these. Once you are ready, come out of the craft. I have both the communication device Pidge gave us and the remote to turn off cloaking on the ship. I can take you to the prisoners and I will guard the door. When you have completed your task, knock on the door five times. Got it?” Lance and Hunk nod, then change into the prisoner outfits.

 

The journey through the ship is relatively uneventful, with only one galra guard stopping Krolia and asking what she’s doing. The two paladins arrive at the cells, and Krolia roughly pushes them in. As Hunk’s eyes adjust, he notices that a group of several different species of aliens are surrounding someone on the floor. To his shock, the figure laying on the ground seems to be human. Lance elbows Hunk and points, mouthing “Is that a person?”

 

Hunk clears his throat, and the prisoners turn to glance at him. Even the human sits up with a groan, and Lance gasps.

 

“Professor Wright?!” The man looks up at the sound of his name, and squints at the two boys. He’s covered in scars, has a galra tech right leg, and seems to have a galra-made right eye, but how could Lance not recognize his favorite teacher back at the Garrison? The professor studies him and Hunk, and his eyes widen.

 

“You’re two of the cadets who went missing years ago! Lance and Hunk, right?” Hunk nods.

 

“How’d you end up here, Professor?” Lance asks.

 

“I flew out to fight the Galra when they first invaded, and my plane was shot down. I survived the crash, but my leg was seriously injured, I couldn’t see out of my right eye, and I thought I was as good as dead. Some Galra with these weird masks on ended up finding me,” he replies. “I could ask you the same question. You go missing for four years, and now you’re here on a galra cruiser? Have you been here the whole time or-“ Suddenly, a light bulb seems to switch on in his head, and he asks, in a hushed voice, “Wait! Didn’t you two become paladins of Voltron?!” At this, the prisoners start to murmur excitedly among themselves.

 

Lance clears his throat and whispers, “Yes. Voltron is here, and we’re going to take on Haggar in about eleven Vargas.” The prisoners gasp and all start talking at once, but Hunk quiets them down. “We need your help. We need you prisoners to revolt, which will distract Haggar, then we’ll start attacking with Voltron. With her focus divided between Voltron and you guys, we have a chance of winning.”

 

“Is there any way for you to spread the news among the other prisoners? It’s not like there’s anything wrong with you guys,” Hunk says, eying the about twenty prisoners in the cell with him, “but, uh, we might need more people.”

 

Professor Wright nods, and looks over at a short blue alien next to him. “Erok, when they take you to the work camp, you tell them about Voltron, but be careful not to be overheard.”

 

“But how am I going to get to the work ca-“ he starts to squeak in response, but to everyone’s shock, the professor lets out a yell and tackles Erok to the ground. When the galra guards come in, they tear the apparently crazed man from his victim, who is now bleeding profusely from one leg.

 

“I WANT BLOOD!” he yells. “TAKE ME TO THE ARENA!”

 

“Yes, Champion,” a soldier replies. He looks at the prisoner’s injured leg, and says “Take him to the work camps, he won’t be able to fight anymore.” Erok is dragged from the room, and Professor Wright is handcuffed and escorted from the room. He nods back at Lance and Hunk before he’s pushed through the doorway, out of sight.

 

Hunk looks at Lance and mouths, “Champion?” Lance shakes his head, just as confused as Hunk is. They both remember that Shiro was nicknamed the Champion in his days in galra prison. Had he been replaced by the other Garrison teacher? Has Professor Wright suffered the same fate as Shiro during his time in captivity?

 

“You two,” says a female voice, interrupting both of their thoughts. Relief rushes over Hunk when he realizes it’s Krolia talking. “Come with me.”

 

Krolia guides the paladins out of their cell, and murmurs, “We need to hit as many cells as possible. I’m going to keep moving you around. Did those two who got taken have anything to do with the plan?” Lance gives a small, almost imperceptible nod. “Then I’ll just take you to cells around this block. Be careful, and remember our signal.”

 

While Hunk and Lance are being moved from their first cell by Krolia, Allura and Kolivan arrive with the new soldiers. Kolivan is at ease; he’s been on too many infiltration missions to count. He catches sight of a blade member, who happens to be a higher-up on this ship, and subtly makes his way over to the blade.

 

Allura is not nearly as relaxed as Kolivan, but fortunately, she’s put in a group of new galra soldiers who are just as nervous as her. The soldiers are then called to attention and put into three groups, each headed by a senior galra officer. Kolivan makes sure that he is put in the fellow blade’s group, and Allura is put in the same group as the anxious soldiers.

 

Kolivan watches as Allura’s group is led out of the hangar, then he approaches the blade. He subtly reaches in his pocket and pulls out his luxite knife just enough so that the purple insignia is visible to the other blade. The officer nods at him, then addresses the group of Galra recruits.

 

“Today, we’re going to do sparring matches. Let’s go.” The troops begin to walk toward the arena, happy they didn’t get stuck with an unpleasant job like cleaning the gladiator arena on the first day. Kolivan slows his pace until he’s at the very back of the group, almost next to the blade, who is herding the group from behind. “Name?” the blade whispers, falling in step with his ally.

 

“Kolivan,” he replies, and the blade almost stops in his tracks. Kolivan motions to the blade to keep moving, and they walk into a nearby, unmonitored room.

 

“What brings you here, of all places?”

 

“Voltron is coming,” Kolivan says simply. “I need you to notify the blades on this ship. Some of the paladins are convincing the prisoners to revolt when voltron comes, while the others are hacking into the ship as we speak.”

 

“How long until the attack?”

 

“Ten Vargas. This is the battle we’ve been waiting for - this could be the end of Zarkon’s galra empire.”

 

“I will inform the others. You must leave with this,” the blade adds, handing Kolivan a device. “This will show you the positions of all Galra ships linked with the cruiser and the status of each. Take this back to Voltron.”

 

“I will stay undercover as one of your soldiers until we are six Vargas away from the attack, then I will escape when the air guards change shifts. Thank you.”

 

At this, the blade exits the room. Kolivan waits a few minutes to follow him, as to not look suspicious. He walks past several doorways, one guarded by a galra soldier. As soon as he passes, the soldier leans into the doorway and whispers, “Guys, hurry up! Eventually, one of these Galra are going to want in!”

 

“Shhh, Romelle, you’ll blow our cover!” Keith whispers back angrily. “Pidge, got anything?”

 

“Still working on it,” Pidge mumbles, with lines of computer code reflected on her glasses. A moment later she quietly says, “Whoa! Look at this!”

 

Keith leans over the computer screen. Judging from the camera feed on Pidge’s screen, it looks like she’s successfully hacked into one of the “rover” bots. Upon inspection of the room shown on the screen, it looks to be just another one of Haggar’s storage rooms, but Keith’s breath hitches when he sees what’s inside of the containers.

 

“So that’s how Haggar cloned Shiro,” Pidge says, and shudders.

 

***

 

Allura is really starting to regret signing up for this. For the past two Vargas, she’s been cleaning up the gladiator arena after each fight, and it’s been gnarly. It seems that Haggar made herself a new Champion after Shiro left, and he’s been in the ring, fighting for his life, for the past Varga and a half. Allura was surprised to see that he is human, but she realized that Haggar probably has several human prisoners from the Galra invasion of Earth, and doesn’t think any more of it. She sighs, and wonders how the others are doing.

 

“Aha!” Pidge whisper-yells triumphantly. “I’ve got it! This is the right one!”

 

“Are you sure about that?” Keith grumbles a bit. After three hours of crawling around in the vents of Haggar’s ship, he’s tired of getting his hopes up that whichever control center they’re at is the right one. Seriously, how many computers does an evil altean witch need to keep her ship up and running? Of all the computers they’ve been to, none of them have been able to do whatever Pidge needs to do to open communication. Keith is starting to think that the ship might not have what Pidge needs.

 

Just then, the indicator light on his communication device pops on, and Pidge shoots him a smug grin. Romelle jumps up and down with excitement as Keith radios the other paladins.

 

“Paladins, it’s me, Keith. Are you there?”

 

“Yeah Keith, we hear you,” says Hunk’s voice. “Lance and I have just about covered every prison cell we can get to. If you don’t need us or Krolia, we’re going to head back to the Atlas.”

 

“Speaking of Atlas, can you hear us, Atlas crew?”

 

“Loud and clear, Keith,” Sam’s voice drifts out of the communicator. “We’re all good here. Coran’s asleep, and Shiro’s down in his room, but Iverson, Veronica, and I are here. Hunk, Lance, Krolia - we’re ready to welcome you back.”

 

“Can I hitch a ride?” Allura asks. “All I’ve been doing is cleaning up the stands here in the gladiator arena. I’m afraid I won’t be much help here any longer.”

 

“Of course, Princess,” Krolia responds.

 

“I’d better go tell Shiro you’re all safe and sound,” says Iverson.

 

“It seems like my work is done sooner than expected. I will return to the Atlas soon,” Kolivan murmurs.

 

“Well, I guess we’re the only ones staying,” says Pidge. “We’ll only be about a Varga longer. I’ve done most of the important work already, but the more I do now, the better of a chance we have later. We’ll meet you guys back at the Atlas.”

 

After a Varga, Lance, Hunk, Krolia, and Allura arrive safely in the Atlas hangar. Apparently, it had taken them a while to find each other while avoiding suspicion from the Galra onboard. Doboshes later, Kolivan arrives with a sort of space flash drive? Veronica can’t really tell what exactly it is, but Kolivan plugs it into the Atlas and a large projection of the cruiser appears.

 

“This gives you the status of every Galra ship connected to the cruiser,” Kolivan says, a note of pride in his voice. “I’m sure it will help us win this fight.”

 

“Kolivan, this is amazing! I can’t believe you actually got your hands on something like this!” Veronica watches as a group of purple dots descend towards the door of the ship and fly inside. Lance snickers, and Veronica glares at him. The team decides to relax a bit, and they kick back and snack on the food Hunk made for the trip. Fortunately for everyone aboard, Hunk has a bad habit of cooking while nervous, so now there’s plenty of food on the Atlas

 

The door to the cockpit opens, and Pidge, Keith, and Romelle stroll through. With a huff of indignation, Romelle exclaims, “Finally, I can take off this quizacking helmet!”

 

“Romelle! I’m glad to see you doing well,” says Allura excitedly. At this, Romelle blushes slightly.

 

“Well, it takes more than a cruiser full of Galra to scare me,” Romelle replies, puffing out her chest.

 

“Oh sure,” laughs Allura, and the two Alteans grin at each other. Veronica can tell there’s something going on between those two, and she turns to look at her brother. But rather than gazing at the princess, Veronica notices Lance fixated on the team leader. Lately, Veronica has seen her brother acting weirdly around Keith, and wonders if he realizes his own feelings.

 

“You won’t believe who I saw in prison, Keith! He knocked an alien clear across the room!”

 

“Oh, was it that human? The new ‘Champion’ they replaced Shiro with?”

 

“What? How would Haggar have gotten her hands on a human?” Pidge asks, confused.

 

“Wouldn’t she have been able to take some prisoners when the Galra invaded Earth?”

 

“Dad, Haggar wasn’t the one who invaded Earth, Sendak was. Maybe she sent some of her druids to capture people?”

 

“Person,” corrects Hunk, “He was the only human we found in all of the prison cells.”

 

“Yeah, we thought it was kind of weird that Haggar would only take one guy from the whole Earth. What’s so special about Professor Wright, anyway?” Lance laughs, and Hunk chuckles along with him. But his laughter fades when he realizes Keith, Pidge, Sam, Iverson, and Veronica are gaping at him. “Was it something I said...?” Lance trails off, confused. Keith runs over to Lance and grabs him by the shoulders. Lance feels heat rise up into his face.

 

“What was that name you just said?” Keith demands, looking at Lance with fear in his eyes.

 

“Prof- Professor Wright- y’know, the engineering teacher from the Garrison? The really chill one, the guy who always let us eat in his class,” Lance stammers, growing redder. Pidge runs to the nearest computer, and she, Sam, Iverson, and Veronica all start talking at once. Everyone else stares at Keith, waiting for an explanation. Keith sighs, and turns away from Lance.

 

“Professor Wright- God, it’s so weird to call him that- was Shiro’s fiancé before he left for Kerberos. Shiro didn’t want his personal life and his public life to mix, so only a few of us knew about him and Adam, or Professor Wright. Adam was never as close to me as Shiro, but we kind of consoled each other after Shiro was pronounced dead. On the way back to Earth, Shiro said he really wanted to see Adam again, but he was nervous about how Adam would react to him. See, Adam broke up with Shiro before Kerberos because Adam was worried about Shiro going on such a dangerous mission and not putting his own health before his dreams. So I told him about how devastated Adam was after Kerberos, and that Adam wanted to apologize to him, so when we went back to Earth Shiro looked for him but Adam... died...”

 

“In a plane crash?” Hunk asks, softly. Keith nods. “Professor Wr- er, Adam- said something about how he got shot down by Sendak’s ships. He survived the crash, but he said he was captured by some Druids and brought back here. But why would Haggar only take him, and not an-“

 

“Leverage,” Keith interrupts. “Shiro’s family cut him off when they found out about his sexuality. Adam was the only family Shiro had until he found me, and even after, Adam was the only person Shiro would open up to- Adam grounded him, gave him stability. Haggar has an ace up her sleeve if she has Adam, because Shiro would do anything to get him back.”

 

“But it doesn’t make sense! How would Haggar even know that about Shiro! We didn’t even know that about him,” Allura argues. Everyone is quiet for a moment, until Keith gasps.

 

“The clones,” Keith murmurs, feeling sick all of a sudden. “When Haggar cloned him, she had access to all of his memories. She would have known, and, desperate for an advantage over us and still mourning Zarkon...”

 

“She would have come for Adam,” finishes Lance. He gently puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Keith,” Lance says, meeting Keith’s eyes. “We’ll find him.”

 

“Found him!” Pidge exclaims, and everyone turns to her. She projects her computer screen onto the windshield of the Atlas. Sure enough, the RoverCam shows Adam, sitting alone in a prison cell, spinning a gold band around his left ring finger. He looks worse than Keith has ever seen him, and the black paladin feels a pang of grief. After all, Adam was there for him after Shiro’s disappearance. He had always made sure that Keith was fed and had a place to go when Keith had dropped out, and while he wasn’t Shiro, Adam had still been an important part of Keith’s life.

 

“Takashi...” Adam mumbles, looking down at the ring. “Maybe I’ll be able to come back to you, soon...”

 

Suddenly, a galra guard bursts into Adam’s cell, and the man flinches. “Get ready for the fight of your life,” the soldier rumbles gleefully. “We’ve found the first Champion. You’ll face him in two Vargas. Why, everyone on the ship will be there to see that fight!”

 

“PIDGE!” Keith’s knuckles turn white as he grasps the railing in front of him, absorbing the meaning of those words.

 

“On it!” Pidge yells back to Keith. Within minutes, Pidge locates Shiro. The captain is sitting alone in a cell, hands cupped over his ears and breathing heavily. Keith immediately starts to run to the hangar, but Lance grabs his arm.

 

“Wait! I’m not going to let you run off alone on a dangerous mission like this!”

 

“Let go of me, Lance!”

 

“No! We need you with us, Keith! I need you!” Lance shouts. Keith stops struggling and turns to face him. “I need you,” Lance repeats, quietly. He looks down, expecting Keith to shove him away, slap him, shake his hand off, or reject him in some other way.

 

Instead, Keith leans in and kisses Lance. And to Lance’s surprise, he kisses Keith back.

 

Too soon, it feels like, Keith pulls away, his face red as a tomato. Lance probably doesn’t look much better himself.

 

“Finally,” Veronica says, frankly. Pidge grins at her.

 

“Girl, you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this,” Pidge says to the woman, smirking.

 

“I hate to ruin the long-awaited moment with, uh, logic, but, Haggar doesn’t know that we can form Voltron without Shiro. If Keith charges in there with the black lion, then we’ll lose our element of surprise,” reasons Hunk.

 

“Hunk is right,” agrees Allura. “Since Shiro has been caught, Haggar must know that Voltron is nearby.”

 

“I have an idea,” says Lance, and Pidge rolls her eyes.

 

“You? With an idea?” The red paladin’s shoulders slump.

 

“I’m listening, Lance,” says Keith, shooting daggers at Pidge. Lance smiles gratefully at Keith and takes a deep breath.

 

“So let’s assume Haggar knows that Voltron is here, but she thinks we can’t form it because she has Shiro. So what if Hunk, Pidge, Allura and I draw her attention away from the main ship with our lions? The last thing she’ll expect is Keith tearing through the side of her cruiser to save Shiro and Professor Wright, and she’ll be caught off guard. When the prisoners see the black lion, they’ll know that it’s time to start the revolt, and that will throw Haggar off her game even more. Then Keith can drop Shiro and Professor Wright off at the Atlas, and then we can form Voltron and kick some Galra butt!”

 

“Lance, that’s.... genius!” Pidge exclaims, running over to hug Lance. “I’m sorry I doubted you.” Lance smiles brightly, and Keith feels a thrill of happiness.

 

“Plus, Haggar almost certainly doesn’t know about the Atlas,” Coran pipes up. “So once we get Shiro back, we’ll be able surprise that witch with a healthy dose of giant Earth robot!”

 

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Keith looks around at his team, and suddenly, he can see that he has his whole life ahead of him. After this battle, he’ll be free to live as he chooses, whether staying on Earth or exploring the universe. He won’t have to constantly fight for his life, and he might finally have time to sort out his feelings for a certain Cuban boy. He grins and says, “We’ve got a universe to save!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOLD OF YOU TO ASSUME I WOULD MAKE A FIC TAGGED AS ADASHI WITHOUT HAVING ADAM BE ALIVE
> 
> also, kick
> 
> Normally two chapters won’t be posted within a couple of hours of each other, but I finished writing this chapter yesterday, and I got excited and wanted to post it
> 
> Next chapter will be about Shiro!!! Also, you’ll get to see where Adam was taking Shiro in the flashback from last chapter!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this far, and I hope you’ll continue reading my work in the future!


	3. Reunion

Unaware of the RoverCam watching him, Shiro kneels, covering his ears. He’s trying to block out the cheering from the nearby arena. But wait, isn’t the arena further away from these cells? He had been blindfolded when the Druid had taken him from the ship into this cell, so he has no sense of where he is now. And honestly, he’s not sure he wants to know.

The cell door swings open, and Shiro scrambles back in horror at the sight of the figure in the doorway.

“So, you survived,” snarls a female voice that still haunts Shiro’s dreams. “But you’re not my Kuron. Somehow, you’re the original.” Haggar floats closer to Shiro and looms over his kneeling form. She laughs. “Your will to survive is impressive. Tell me, was it because of your ‘Adam’ that you worked so hard to stay alive?” The prisoner looks up at the witch, and she continues. “I tried to wipe the memory of him out of Kuron because I didn’t want Kuron getting distracted, but he was so deeply rooted in your mind that I would have been forced to wipe all of your memories. It’s a shame you couldn’t save him.” In a fit of rage, Shiro springs upwards, lunging at Haggar’s throat, but she dissolves into smoke beneath his fingers. She reappears in the opposite corner of the room.

“I understand your anger, Champion. We have both lost everyone we love.”

“Not yet,” Shiro mutters.

“Ah, right. Your team. They will certainly be coming for you soon. After all, they cannot form Voltron without their black paladin.” Shiro feels a surge of hope at these words, realizing that Haggar doesn’t know about the lion swap. She probably thinks the black lion temporarily bonded with Keith because of their combined wish to save “Kuron.” He tries to keep his face neutral as she addresses him again.

“In the meantime, prepare yourself to prove your title again. In your absence, I created a new Champion. You will face him soon.” With a swish of her cloak, Haggar vanishes.

Shiro exhales, realizing he’s been holding his breath. _New Champion?_ The thought fills him with dread. He knows that this new Champion was most likely taken against their will and is fighting just to survive, hanging on to the slim chance that they will get to go home someday. He hopes for their sake that they haven’t been put through what he experienced in Galra prison.

As Shiro sits and waits in the dark, cramped cell, all he can do is think. He tries his best not to, and yet his mind is running a mile a minute, and his emotions run wild. One minute, he’s ecstatic because Haggar doesn’t know that Keith is the new black paladin, the next, he’s panicking at the thought of going back into the arena. This vicious cycle of emotion continues inside Shiro until a memory surfaces.

_Adam leads Shiro along through the seemingly endless forest. Both teenagers are still dripping wet from the river, but Adam is still as enthusiastic as can be. Shiro is starting to regain his senses from the kiss earlier, and he wonders if Adam knows where he’s going._

_“Ha! C’mere, Takashi!” Adam shouts triumphantly from the opposite side of a hill. Shiro trudges onwards toward the voice, but when he reaches the top of the hill, Shiro gasps, unable to move any further._

_Adam has led him to a clearing in the dense forest, and Shiro suddenly realizes why Adam has brought him all this way. The band of the Milky Way stretches from horizon to horizon, and countless stars fill the night sky, more than Shiro has ever seen before. He’s lived in the city for his entire life. On his first night at the Garrison, Shiro had been shocked by how many stars he could see. After saying that out loud, one kid laughed and said, “Oh please, this is nothing! Someday, I’ll show you what the stars really look like.”_

_“Told you I’d show you the stars someday,” Adam grins._

_“You remember that?”_

_“How could I forget how we met?”_

_“Do you remember what happened after that, too?”_

_“If you mean you trying to tell me how I was totally wrong, yes. I was shocked when you asked for me to be your roommate.”_

_Shiro shrugs. “To be completely honest, I didn’t know anyone else’s name, so when Iverson asked, I just said yours,” the black-haired boy responds sheepishly. “I’m glad I did.” Both boys laugh a bit, and Adam glances down at his watch._

_“Oh! It’s almost time, Takashi!” God, Shiro loves when Adam calls him by his first name. Two tiny universes reflect from Adam’s glasses as he surveys the sky. He mutters for a couple of minutes, eyes flicking from the sky back to his watch. All of a sudden, Adam shouts, “There!” and points east._

_Shiro’s eyes linger on the curve of Adam’s tan arm from shoulder to finger, then Shiro turns his gaze to where Adam is pointing. A bright white dot moves steadily across the sky._

_“You dragged me all the way out here to see a satellite?”_

_“Yeah, it’s just a small, insignificant piece of space junk called the International Space Station,” Adam says with a sly grin and a wink. Shiro gasps and squints at the object. “You know, the original one, the one they couldn’t take out of orbit so they made it into a museum? Where the first astronauts stayed in space for shifts of six months, gathering the most basic of information about how extended time in space would affect us?”_

_“How do you know all of that? I thought I was the ISS nerd here,” Shiro jokes._

_“I listen to you when you talk, unfortunately,” Adam shoots back. A moment later, he adds, “I like it when you talk,” with a softer tone. Shiro takes Adam’s hand, enjoying its warmth against his own hand._

_“Well!” Adam bursts out, suddenly unable to look Shiro in the eye. “I- Well, I- Since you always talk so much about how you wanted to see the ISS someday, I, uh, thought I’d let you see it! From right here on Earth, too!” He fights a bit, then takes a deep breath. “I... I like you, Takashi. Like as more than a friend. I have for a while now, I think. I would have said something sooner, but I was afraid that... you wouldn’t want to be friends...” Adam trails off, face flushed. He looks up at Shiro as if for reassurance, and Shiro gives it to him by closing the gap between them. Shiro presses his lips against Adam’s, and he knows he’ll never forget this moment._

Even after being tortured, experimented on, killed, cloned, and being jammed into the body of his clone, he remembers.

He remembers Adam’s whoops and cheers as Shiro went through flight simulations, and the way Adam’s eyes shone with a fierce sense of pride whenever his boyfriend broke a record. He remembers how Adam’s family took him in when his own family shunned him after coming out. He remembers when he proposed to Adam, and how Adam had been so overwhelmed by happiness that he cried. He remembers when he brought Keith home for the first time, and how Adam had tried his best to bond with the kid. He remembers when Adam tried to teach him how to cook, when he and Adam made love for the first time, when Keith broke Adam’s glasses, and with no small amount of pain, when he left Adam to go to Kerberos.

He remembers the fear when the Galra took him. He remembers sacrificing himself for Matt Holt. He remembers how he kept his hope alive by thinking of Adam. He remembers Ulaz sending him back to Earth, only for him to be launched back into space within hours. He remembers Voltron, all the ups and downs of his crazy adventures as black paladin, and remembers all the alien species he’d met on the way. He remembers the long journey home, and how excited and nervous he was to see Adam again. He remembers that Adam, along with so many others, had died protecting the Earth. He remembers the people and events that shaped his life, and finally, he remembers what got him through it all.

He remembers what he’s fighting for.

When the Galra guards retrieve him, Shiro is ready. He goes with them willingly and doesn’t cause a scene. Rows of Galra citizens push and shove each other to get a glimpse of Shiro before he heads into the ring. The Champion holds his head high and stays composed, staring straight ahead.

Shiro is led into the arena, where he can just make out a humanoid form. He slowly approaches the figure, noticing the missing leg, the Galran sword in his left hand, and the way his opponent leans. Shiro’s trying to analyze his weaknesses, but he catches a glimpse of gold on the man’s ring finger. Despite himself, Shiro calls out to him.

“You’re... human?” The other person turns to face Shiro, and Shiro’s world stops.

Time is suspended as Shiro examines the other’s tanned skin crisscrossed with scars, the fluffy, caramel-colored hair, the pink, chapped lips, and finally, gray eyes meet hazel ones, wide open with shock.

“Adam?”

“T- Takashi?” Adam mumbles, unable to believe his eyes. Even with white hair, nasty scars, and a floating bionic arm, Adam recognizes his former fiancé. He’s taller than Adam now, and Adam can’t help but notice that Shiro’s absolutely shredded. Tears well up in his eyes when Adam notices the glint of silver from Shiro’s left hand, and knows that Shiro must have made it back to Earth. Before he knows what he’s doing, Adam’s feet fly across the arena floor. Shiro’s running too, and suddenly, they’re the only two people in the universe. They collide, and Shiro pulls Adam into a kiss, clutching desperately at Adam’s back as if he’s going to disappear while Adam cups Shiro’s face in his hands, trying to convince himself he’s not hallucinating. Their tears mingle as they savor the embrace they’ve both quietly dared to dream of for years. They’ve been starved, desperate for each other, but now, at last, they’ve met again. 

Finally, they break apart, breathless. Adam wraps his arm around Shiro and leans into his chest, sobbing. Shiro runs his hand through Adam’s hair, a million questions running through his mind, but he’s unable to speak as he sinks to his knees. Adam follows him to the ground, and, misty eyed, looks up at Shiro.

“I- I told you Ker- Kerberos was a b- bad idea,” Adam says, through sobs. “Y- you idiot...” 

“What a touching reunion,” says a cold voice, yanking the pair back to reality. Haggar sits in the reserved box in the stands, amplifying her voice. All at once, the crowd’s boos and jeers finally reach the two men.

“You monster!” Adam yells suddenly, and stands. His hands are in fists at his sides, and he’s trembling with rage. Yes, he’d just been thinking about how he wanted to see Shiro again, but he never imagined it would be like this in his worst nightmares. “Let him go! Please, just experiment on me instead!”

Finally regaining his voice, Shiro stammers, “A- Adam... what are you...”

“I’ll do anything you want,” Adam begs. “I’ll cooperate with you when you experiment me. I’ll fight in the ring as many times as you want until you’re entertained. I-“ Adam takes a deep breath.

“I’ll let you harvest my Quintessence.”

“ADAM, NO!” Shiro stands, and plants himself between Adam and Haggar’s box. The witch laughs.

“A tempting offer,” she muses, “but not very entertaining, is it? I would prefer to watch you fight to the death, here.” The crowd cheers. Shiro looks up at his Adam, and sees a world of sadness in his eyes.

Adam feels like he’s breaking his promise to Shiro. The first time he made it as a joke, when Shiro had been scared of getting a detention from Iverson. But as their relationship developed, he found himself making that same promise again and again, like when Shiro’s family kicked him out, or when he and Shiro were in fighter simulations together, or when Shiro told him about the disease. Now, Adam’s ashamed that he can’t keep his promise when it matters the most.

”I promised you I’d protect you,” Adam says, swallowing the lump in his throat. He looks like he’s giving up. Shiro reminds himself that not all hope is gone, and he realizes he has to tell Adam what he knows. He can’t do this without help. Shiro walks over to embrace Adam and presses his mouth close to his lover’s ear.

“Voltron is coming. They’re probably making a plan to rescue me right now,” Shiro whispers. Adam’s hair tickles his lips as he speaks. “Haggar knows that Voltron is here because she found me. But she’s only expecting four lions.”

Adam leans into Shiro’s neck and whispers, “Well, she’s correct in assuming that, isn’t she? You’re the black paladin, who else will fly the black lion?”

“I was the black paladin, but I’m... retired. Keith is the black paladin now.”

“Keith? Like, your little brother Keith?!”

“Yeah, I’ll explain it later,” Shiro mumbles. “Right now, we need to worry about keeping ourselves alive until Voltron comes.” He can feel Adam’s smile against his skin.

“That’s what I’ve been doing for the past two years, Takashi,” Adam murmurs. Then he shoves Shiro to the ground, and runs to his sword. Shiro does the same.

“Takashi Shirogane! I’ve decided to kill you because you loved a moon of a dwarf planet more than you loved me!” Adam swings his sword in Shiro’s general direction, but misses him completely. “You thought that just because you came back with an 8-pack, I'd take you back? Ha!” Adam swings at Shiro again, but Shiro easily blocks his blow.

“You don’t like my bulging muscles?” Shiro asks, feigning shock.

“I think they’re _extremely_ sexy, and that ANGERS me!”

“Well you know what angers me, Adam? You gave my Cheesecake Factory leftovers to Keith the day after I left for Kerberos! Keith told me himself!” Adam glares at Shiro, with a look that says, _really_?

“Well, that wouldn’t have happened if you’d just stayed on Earth, you absolute unit of a man!”

”No, you’re the absolute unit of a man, you flaming homosexual!” This time, Shiro makes a clumsy jab at Adam, which Adam blocks.

”At least I’m not sexually attracted to space rocks, like you apparently are!”

They continued bickering and fake-fighting for the next hour, and their conversations just became more ridiculous as time went on. Shiro almost forgets about the dire situation they’re in, he’s having so much fun. Adam grins at Shiro as he playfully flirts during the fight, and blushes when Shiro flirts back. It’s strange - in the exact place where Shiro lost himself, he feels the most like himself since the Galra abducted him. Adam is in the middle of telling Shiro about the trauma he caused their cat by leaving when a Galra officer enters Haggar’s box.

“Attention!” Haggar shouts. “The four lions have arrived to challenge us. Shall we give them a proper welcome? Get to your ships!” The Galra whoop and cheer, and soon, the stands are empty. Haggar looks down at her Champions. “You’ll be too busy to escape,” she says, and leaves.

The floor beneath Shiro rumbles, and one of Haggar’s beasts emerges from under the arena. It growls loudly and slinks toward the duo, baring its giant fangs. Shiro looks at Adam, who grins at him. “Let’s buy some more time, shall we?” Adam says, offering a hand to Shiro. _God, I love him,_ Shiro thinks as Adam pulls him behind a pillar.

"Get ready to move!" Adam yells as the beast charges headfirst at the pillar. Shiro jumps to the side as the beast smashes into the pillar, toppling it. It's momentarily stunned ( _from head trauma, most likely_ , Shiro thinks to himself) and Adam leaps into action. His Galra leg glows purple, and he jumps higher than any normal human is able to jump, vaulting on to the creature's back. It roars and tries to shake Adam off, then starts raking at its back with its claws, rearing up on its hind legs.

"Takashi, do you mind giving me a hand here?!" Adam asks, narrowly dodging a flailing paw. The first thing Shiro thinks to do is send his prosthetic hand flying across the arena. It heats up as it accelerates, and it burns one of the beast's legs. Now that Shiro's hand has the beast's attention, he sends it back and forth across the arena, and the creature races after it.

"I didn't- think you would- take that- literally!" Adam shouts as he clings on for dear life. Shiro starts to lead it in circles and grabs his sword. After several loops, Shiro then leads it towards him and watches as it trips over its own feet. Shiro lunges forward with his sword, and the battle is over. 

Adam tries to stand up, but immediately falls over. When Shiro wraps an arm around his waist for support, Adam says, "Really? You couldn't have let me jump off before the whole spinning part?"

Shrugging, Shiro replies, "I had its attention on my hand. I didn't want it to suddenly start chasing you. Also," Shiro smirks, "that was for making me think you were dead." Adam punches Shiro's arm and scoffs.

"To be fair, I thought you were dead for four years, and you only thought I was dead for two. I should be the one getting my revenge," Adam grumbles.

"Oh good, I thought I'd have to look for both of you," a voice interrupts. Adam draws his sword and extends his arm protectively in front of Shiro- only to awkwardly bump Shiro's arm as he does the exact same thing. "Relax, it's just me," says Keith, stepping out of the shadows. He notices the dead beast, and asks, "Did I miss something?"

"Keith!" Adam runs to him and hugs him, shocking both Shiro and Keith. "You look so much older!"

Keith pulls away from Adam, but smiles at him. "We can have our touching reunion later. Right now, we've got a war to win." Keith whistles, and Cosmo appears beside him.

"Did that- uh, wolf?- just-" Adam starts.

"Yep, he did. Now grab on."

Adam, Shiro, and Keith all grab Cosmo’s shaggy blue mane, and they’re whisked away to the hangar of the Atlas. Keith starts to walk away, saying that the team needs him.

”Keith?”

”Yes, Shiro?” Keith stops and turns to face the reunited couple. Although he isn’t showing it, the current black paladin is thrilled that his brother has Adam back. Keith’s also glad that Adam isn’t dead, because he never properly thanked Adam for everything he’s done. 

“Be safe out there,” Shiro says, smiling.

”I will be,” Keith replies, then he and the black lion are gone. 

“Where are we?” Adam asks after a moment.

”Pardon my manners,” Shiro exclaims with a smile, “but welcome aboard the Atlas! I’m the captain, Adam, and you get the privilege of seeing all the cool stuff I can do!”

”I thought you said you were retired,” Adam mutters, raising an eyebrow. 

“It’s complicated,” Shiro says with a shrug. “I’ll tell you all about it later. But now, let’s go show Haggar what happens when you mess with the Galaxy Garrison’s power couple!”

 


	4. Showdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you guys liked the fake fight scene in the last chapter, you’re going to LOVE this chapter. You’ll know what I mean by the end of the chapter, but for now, enjoy!

Pidge thinks the plan is going great. Haggar is in hot pursuit of the four lions, leaving her ship vulnerable to attack by the black lion. They’ve drawn her further and further from both her ship and the Atlas.

 

The only unfortunate part of the plan is the simple fact that all of Haggar’s forces are attacking the lions, and they can’t assemble. Haggar is in a ship unlike the team has ever fought, and it keeps shooting bolts of purple lightning at them. It's nimbler, faster, and harder to hit than any other ship in the fleet, and it just keeps coming. Also, it's forcing Voltron toward the supermassive black hole in the center of the Andromeda galaxy. _If Keith doesn’t come soon, we’ll all be sucked in_ , Pidge thinks to herself.

 

Suddenly, the red lion crashes into her lion, and Pidge grunts as the green lion tumbled through space. She turns on her boosters, rightens herself and yells, “What was that for?!”

 

“Sorry! Haggar fired at you and that was the first thing I thought to do!” Lance shouts back. A swarm of galra troops approach the two lions, but before they reach the lions, they're frozen solid. “Thanks, Allura!”

 

“We need to do something soon, or we’ll get pushed into the black hole!” Hunk’s voice yells over coms with a note of desperation.

 

“How about we form Voltron?” A new voice pipes up. Seemingly out of nowhere, the black lion swoops in, taking a cannon blow for Lance. Keith then pilots her through the Galra fleets and tears a hole in the side of one of the larger ships. She tucks and weaves through both fighters and debris, then hovers in front of the other four lions.

 

“Keith!” the team shouts in unison, relieved.

 

“Welcome to the fight, buddy!”

 

“Well, what are we waiting for? Form Voltron!”

 

(((You may be expecting me to describe how Voltrom forms at this point, but you know what? We’ve all seen the “Form Voltron” sequence enough times, and we all know how it forms. Let’s just get back to the blowing stuff up, shall we?)))

 

“None of us have gotten a clear shot at Haggar’s ship yet, but her shields should be down because of my hacks earlier. Let’s go for it!” Voltron flies through the Galra fighters, taking out as many as they can as they speed towards Haggar’s ship.

 

“Form sword!” Keith yells, seconds before they reach the target. As soon as the sword lights up from Lance’s lion, Voltron veers upwards from its collision course, then with all the force it has, brings the sword down on top of the ship.But before it can hit the ship, the sword smashes into some sort of barrier, which makes it bounce back. Voltron tumbles backwards from the momentum, plowing through an asteroid.

 

“Uh, what just happened?! Why didn’t the sword work? Pidge, I thought you said her shields were down!”

 

“They are, Hunk! Whatever that was, it wasn't the defenses she programmed in!”

 

“It’s her magic,” Allura says, “it must be. That's how she's making the lightning so powerful! She's using her own Quintessence to power the ship.”

 

Pidge says what’s on all of their minds. “Like the Altean-powered ship we fought on Earth? Haggar is the power source for that thing?!”

 

“Atlas, are you hearing this?” Keith asks.

 

“Yes, we’re hearing. Still working on believing,” Shiro responds. The rest of the Atlas crew look concerned, all of them remembering the last time they fought one of these creations. Well, all of them except one.

 

“Wait, so you’re trying to tell me that Haggar is that humanoid robot thing and she downloaded herself into the ship and it’s like... an extension of her body?” Adam says, confused. “Is it even possible to have your consciousness inside of a ship?” For some reason, Shiro winces at this. He starts to ask Shiro if everything's alright, but Shiro, anticipating his question, turns to the commands of the Atlas.

 

“Voltron, Atlas is headed to your position,” Shiro says, and he turns to Adam. “Want to see something cool?”

 

Adam isn’t quite ready to move on yet, but he nods, making a mental note to ask Shiro about it later. Shiro looks back at the command module and rests his hands on the coms, and a teal glow lights up the Atlas. Adam feels something in his mind that's not him, and he's reminded of Haggar's experiments on him. He jumps back, not willing to find out what'll happen next. “What was that?!”

 

Sam, Iverson, Veronica, and and orange-haired alien man look at Adam blankly, but Shiro stares at him, shocked. “You could see it too?”

 

“If you mean that weird blue glow outlining the ship inside my head, then yeah. What-“

 

“Adam!! I think that means-“ Shiro says, grabbing Adam’s hand excitedly, “Here, just put your hands on here- no, not like that- now, don't be afraid to let her in, she's friendly- oh I can’t believe!- Ah!”

 

Adam feels the floor shift beneath him, and suddenly, he realizes it’s the Atlas that's inside his mind, and she's telling him what he needs to do. He looks at Shiro, who’s also surrounded by the blue light now, and nods.

 

(((No, I’m not going to describe how Atlas forms either. I almost didn’t even write this chapter because I wanted to get back to Earth so I could write about the characters developing a bit, but I thought it’d be kinda weird to have the whole fic leading up to this fight and then not writing about it. Also, there’s an Adam moment coming up in this chapter that was just too good for me not to write. So yes, I’m writing a fight chapter, but if you think I’m going to describe in detail about how ANY of these giant humanoid robots form, you’ve got another thing coming.)))

 

Adam and Shiro lead the changed Atlas toward the center of the Galaxy, ready to take Haggar on. As soon as the giant white robot gets in view of Haggar’s forces, the Galra start to scramble. Their flying formations become much less organized as they try to figure out which robot to focus on. The Paladins cheer as they watch Atlas take out hordes of Galra fighters, momentarily forgetting the danger they're in.

 

Suddenly, a jet of purple lightning is visible from the cockpit of Atlas. A moment later, Atlas sees Voltron floating lifelessly through space. Immediately, Shiro yells into coms, “Paladins! Are you there?!”

 

“Ugh...” murmurs Allura. Shiro is relieved just to hear her voice, and asks the other paladins to radio in. Lance, Pidge, and Hunk all radio in, but Keith takes a moment to check back with Atlas.

 

“My lion’s not responding to anything... I think she drained our power. Voltron is a sitting duck.”

 

“Alright, we’re bringing you in.” Adam guides Atlas, and she scoops up Voltron in her hand, then gently places the powerless robot inside of her left leg, where the hangar is currently. At the same time, Shiro fires a laser at the ship from her free hand at Haggar’s ship, but it has no effect. Frustrated, Shiro mutters, “You guys were lucky to get out of that. Last time I took a bolt like that from her, I was vaporized, and woke up inside the black lion’s consciousness to find that I had died.”

 

“Wait, WHAT?!” Adam pulls his hands away from the Atlas and gawks at Shiro. “You died?! But how are you here?!”

 

_Oh no_ , Shiro thinks. He'd forgotten that Adam was there. 

 

“Ah, yeah... the black lion kept me in its consciousness, and I was kind of able to Obi Wan it from inside of the black lion’s mind.” Shiro tries to make a joke, hoping Adam will drop the whole 'dying' topic. 

 

Adam and Shiro’s first date had been to see all six of the original Star Wars films. To celebrate the series, the movie theater near the garrison had shown all fifteen episodes of Star Wars, but both Adam and Shiro agreed to stay and watch the first six. After all, they were the best, according to Adam. Shiro isn’t a fan of the first three episodes, but he didn’t mind spending the extra time with Adam. He hoped that by referencing something they both loved, Adam would forget about it for now.

 

“B- But- But how are you here?! Didn’t you say you got vaporized?”

 

_Well, that didn't work._

 

“Well, er... this technically isn’t my own body,” Shiro says sheepishly. “After I died, Haggar used the DNA from my arm to clone me. She planted my memories into a clone, and he infiltrated the team. Unknowingly, he was a spy for Haggar, and when she saw that her son Lotor was in danger, she took over the mind of the clone and made him bring Lotor back to her. Keith chased after him in the black lion, thinking he was me, and Haggar made him fight Keith. But Keith won by cutting the Galra arm off, and he and my now dead clone were saved by the black lion. Later, Allura, the current blue paladin, was able to somehow use her Altean magic to put my consciousness in the body of my clone.”

 

Adam’s face goes from shock to confusion to grief as Shiro talks. When he finishes the (very much abridged) story, Adam’s mouth has settled into a hard line. He stalks over to Shiro and shoves him away from the Atlas controls, and Shiro slams into the ground.

 

“Wha-“

 

“I’m taking care of this,” Adam says, eerily calm, and Shiro knows that he’s absolutely pissed. He decides that it’s safest to stay out of Adam’s way, and lets him pilot the Atlas. Atlas brings up a microphone for Adam, and when he speaks, his voice is projected into Haggar’s vessel.

 

“Hello again, Haggar. This is your Champion speaking, or, at least, one of your Champions. I never thought I’d say this, but I think you treated me better than you treated your first Champion. I just learned about everything you did to my Takashi,” Adam says calmly. He pauses for a moment.

 

“AND YOU’RE GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” Atlas zooms forward, faster than Shiro even knew that the ship could move, and it’s all he can do to hold on. Iverson extends a hand to Shiro, and Shiro buckles himself innext to Iverson. An orange glow envelops the ship, and at first, Shiro thinks they're on fire. But when he looks at Iverson's screen, Shiro realizes that there's a glowing aura surrounding the Atlas, absorbing Haggar's lightning bolts. Amazingly, they don't seem to be fazing the ship _at all_. Iverson taps Shiro's shoulder and points back towards Adam, and Shiro suddenly sees where the light is coming from. 

 

Adam's hands are, amazingly, not even touching the controls. He's standing back from the dashboard, but he's linked to it by bands of the orange light wrapping around him. When Adam moves, the ship mirrors his actions.

 

They weave through the galaxy, chasing Haggar’s fleeing ship. Haggar tries to shoot at Atlas, but Adam gracefully dodges each shot. He shouts obscenities at her, but is interrupted by an alarm on the ship. 

 

“A- Adam,” Shiro gasps, “The black hole!”

 

Adam narrows his eyes, and Atlas’s hand reaches for Haggar’s ship. Her hand hits the shield around the ship, and orange light meets purple. 

 

He blinks, and when Adam opens he’s standing in what seems to be the vacuum of space, surrounded by stars. The same orange light that is shielding the Atlas billows around Adam, creating a protective shell. A similar figure glows purple, and Adam meets the yellow eyes within. He remembers all of the things she did to him, and he charges at her. She races to meet him.

 

As Adam rushes towards her, he thinks of what she must have done to Shiro. He imagines Shiro chained up in a dark, cold cell, dreading what the next day will bring. Adam imagines that, like himself, Shiro was not only forced to fight monsters, but also had to kill innocent prisoners in his struggle to survive, and he imagines what that would have done to Shiro. He imagines Shiro drifting along in the black lion’s conciousness, lonely, scared, and wondering if he would ever see the light of day again.

 

He’s filled with rage, and he screams, “I’M GOING TO KEEP MY PROMISE TO PROTECT HIM, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!” Adam’s aura intensifies, and it becomes blinding.

 

“THIS IS FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!” With that, Atlas’ hand closes around Haggar’s ship. Atlas turns to face the black hole, and winds her arm back.

 

“AND THIS,” Adam yells as Atlas’ arm accelerates, “IS FOR WHAT YOU DID TO TAKASHI, YOU BITCH!” Atlas lets go of Haggar’s ship, sending it hurdling into the center of the galaxy. “DON’T FUCK WITH ME OR MY HUSBAND EVER AGAIN, ASSHOLE!”

 

The cockpit is dead silent for a moment.

 

“Dude...” Lance’s voice says from the coms, clearly awestruck. Adam’s face turns red.

 

“You could hear that?!”

 

“I think the entire galaxy could hear that,” Hunk replies, and Adam groans. “What happened up there? Did you... Is Haggar...”

 

“ _Did you just throw Haggar into a black hole_?” Veronica says incredulously. Adam shifts uncomfortably, realizing the whole Atlas crew is staring at him.

 

“I... uh...”

 

Out of nowhere, tackle-hugs Adam. “He called me his husband!” Shiro shouts triumphantly. 

 

“Is that seriously what you’re focused on right now?!” Shiro ignores Keith’s voice and leans into Adam, who is turning even redder.

 

“Well, uh, you’re wearing your ring, and I, um, I assumed from what happened on the ship, that you might, uh... still want to get married?” Adam manages. “If you still want me, of course. I mean, I was really angry with you for going to Kerberos, and I pushed you away and I was a jerk, but, I thought you might...” He trails off. Shiro squeezes Adam tighter.

 

“I understand why now. You were right,” Shiro says, looking into those beautiful hazel eyes. “But guess what?” Adam looks at him curiously. “When I got back to Earth, the doctors ran all sorts of tests on me. Apparently, Haggar doesn’t make defective clones.” Shiro waits for Adam to put it together, and sure enough, after a moment, Adam sits up and gasps, grabbing Shiro’s hands.

 

“Your disease! You don’t- It’s gone?!” Shiro nods, grinning brightly at Adam. Adam’s smile is brighter than the sun as he whispers, “Takashi... you have your whole life ahead of you!”

 

Shiro pulls Adam’s hand up to cup his cheek, and runs his good hand through Adam’s hair. “Let’s get married,” Shiro murmurs, lost in Adam’s eyes. Dazed, Adam bobs his head up and down. “We’ll have a big old wedding, we’ll get a nice cake, we can finally have the nice honeymoon you wanted-“

 

“Are you going to show me all the places you’ve been in space? That’ll be a long honeymoon, Takashi,” Adam replies softly. 

 

“Actually... I think I want to take you to Japan. I’m done with space travel for now. Someday, I promise I’ll give you a grand tour of the universe, but for now...” Shiro presses a kiss against Adam’s forehead and breathes in his familiar scent. “Let’s go home, Adam.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOVE MY SON ADAM THX
> 
> also hey!! Only two more chapters! Then I can start working on my next fic yeet
> 
> It’s going to be a mermaid au about adashi and klance!! also it’s going to be a lot longer than this mini-fic, I think it’ll be a three book series!!
> 
> as always, thank you so so SO much for reading!!!!!


	5. Union

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Update! Did not write the rest of ch6 yesterday or today! I'll work on it, I promise, my bad!
> 
> Okay so, I'm going to publish half of this chapter today, and I'll write the other half of the chapter tomorrow and probably post it on Monday. This chapter as a whole is about the entire wedding day- both the ceremony and the reception. I decided to put in another chapter after that because so many stories end with the wedding, and I didn't want this to be another one of those stories. So in chapter 6, aka the last chapter, you'll get a peek into the happy couple's life years later, and you'll get to see how the other characters are doing as well.
> 
> Now, you may be scrolling back up to the chapter count right now, thinking I made a mistake. There will be a chapter 7, but it's not technically part of the story. It's going to be some extras that I wanted to put in the fic (which includes Shiro and Adam having a dance-off in the gladiator ring ;)) and some headcanons about the character in this au!
> 
> So enjoy part 1 of the chapter!
> 
> (TW: implied past suicide attempts.)

Ever since Kerberos, Adam had dreamed of what his wedding with Shiro could have been. Planning their perfect wedding in his head became a coping mechanism for him when Shiro had left, and it stayed with him even through Galra prison, but Adam had never in his wildest dreams imagined that it would actually happen.

But the universe has a funny way of uniting people, sometimes against all odds. So sure enough, here Adam is, all dressed up in his white tuxedo, nervously looking himself over in the mirror of a Garrison bathroom. (Unbeknownst to him, Adam had been so worried when he came in the bathroom, he hadn't realized he went into the women's bathroom.) He’d been on his way to the ceremony, where everyone was waiting for him, when he’d caught sight of the giant crowd surrounding the gazebo where Shiro is standing, preparing to give his vows.

Adam peeks through the bathroom window to get another glimpse of the crowd. He sighs. “Takashi, did you really have to invite the entire universe?!”

Unaware of his husband-to-be watching him, Shiro looks around nervously. “Shouldn’t he be here by now? Did something go wrong? Oh quiznack, Keith, what if one of the Druids survived somehow and found him?! Keith, they could be dragging him back to purple alien jail right now! I have to-“ Shiro starts to jump down from the gazebo, about to run into the Garrison, but Keith grabs his arm.

“Shiro, Adam’s not being kidnapped. It’s more likely that he’s been stopped by security and asked for his ID, even though he’s one of the grooms.” Shiro settles back onto the gazebo railing, but still keeps his eyes fixed on the gray building. Keith rolls his eyes and walks over to Lance.

“Hey Mullet, what’s up? What’s taking Adam so long?”

“Shiro thinks he’s been kidnapped by some underground Galra network that’s infiltrated the Garrison,” Keith responds exasperatedly, and Lance can’t help but chuckle. “But, knowing Adam, he’s probably in a bathroom or closet somewhere, panicking about speaking in front of this crowd. You couldn’t tell from how he acted in the classroom, but Adam had some serious anxiety issues in the past, particularly with public speaking. Over time, with the help of his family and Shiro, he was able to overcome a lot of it, but I reckon some of it still sticks with him today. I imagine that spending two years in an environment where you could be tortured for saying something wrong hasn’t helped his case. Lance, I need you to go talk to him.”

“What? Why me?”

"You have a way of making people recognize their potential, like Shiro. You know, he said to me once that he sees a lot of himself in you," Keith says. Lance's eyes widen a bit, and Keith laughs at his boyfriend. It's been about a month since the final battle, and in that time, Keith had confessed to Lance. He was shocked to find that Lance felt the same way. They've decided to take things slow, since Keith has never dated before, and Lance has never dated a _guy_ before, but within the past week or so, they've started to become comfortable with calling the other their boyfriend.

"When the black lion chose me after Shiro died, you were the one who helped me accept my new role. When I led the team right into Lotor's trap, you were the voice of reason, and you helped me keep my cool. So Lance, you're the one I trust to bring Adam to his senses about this whole wedding thing. I'll stay here with Shiro and make sure he doesn't take the Atlas to go find a Galra prison that doesn't exist." 

"I've got your back, team leader," Lance replies, and he heads toward the Garrison. He roams around the halls for a bit, and it's not long until he hears a voice.

"Takashi, you are the flame to my candle, the sun to my moon, the fi- Seriously, Adam?! What's with all these fire metaphors?!" Adam's voice shouts. Lance approaches it, and he reaches a section of the hallway with bathrooms. _Looks like Keith was right_ , Lance thinks to himself, and reaches to open the door to the men's bathroom. The door opens with a clang, revealing an empty room.

"Adam?" Lance calls, confused. He stands in the doorway for a minute, surveying the room, until he hears a loud thump from behind him. He pivots and opens the door to the women's restroom. "Adam," Lance says again, "what the quiznack are you doing?"

Lance's former teacher freezes. He's standing on top of one of the sinks with his head inside of the air duct. The grate for the vent is lying on the floor, discarded. Quickly, Adam's head emerges from the opening. His glasses are askew and his hair is ruffled. He shoots an very forced looking smile at the young man before him. "Lance!" He says, his voice unaturally high. Lance can hardly keep a straight face at the sheer ridiculousness of the scenario, but he knows that the last thing Adam needs right now is to be laughed at. 

"I, uh, I didn't know you were here!" Adam gets down from the sink, and he can tell that he's blushing furiously right now. "Did you... Did you hear anything?"

"I heard you criticizing your own vows," Lance responds, causing Adam to groan and put his head in his hands.

"It's hopeless. _I'm_ hopeless. I didn't write any vows! Shiro's going to be mad at me for embarrassing him with these stupid awful corny last minute vows in front of the enitre universe, and he's going to leave me. He's going to use that floating arm of his to drop me into the Grand Canyon, and I'm going to die alone in a hole, and then the coyotes and vultures will-"

"Whoa, hold on a second. You think Shiro's going to leave you because he won't like your vows?" Lance says, biting his lip, trying hard not to laugh.

"Well, when you say it that way, it sounds ridiculous, but in actuality- hey, are you laughing at me?!" Adam crosses his arms and huffs at Lance, who's finally given in and is collapsed on the floor, cackling and wheezing.

"Adam, you- you really think that- Shiro is going to stop loving you because of- your vows?" Lance asks, through tears. He slowly stops laughing and he meets Adam's eyes. "You literally threw an evil alien witch that we've been fighting for _years_ into a black hole because you found out what she did to Shiro, do you _really_ think he's going to forget that because of some silly vows?

"He loves you so much, Adam, Keith always complains that Shiro never shuts up about you. And I know that you love him. You've both been through hell and back, but your love for each other led you both to keep pushing, keep fighting, keep surviving, so you could see each other again."

"Ah... you're right, Lance. I know he'll love me no matter what I say. I guess I just want the vows to be perfect, because that's what he deserves. Each time I sat down to write them, I just couldn't find the words to describe how much he means to me. Lance, what do I _do_?!" 

"You know, back when I was in theatre club, my teacher once said that sometimes, improvising could be better than anything written in the script." After saying that, she had almost immediately taken it back when the ensemble members started swearing each other out onstage, but Adam doesn't need to know that. "Just tell him how you feel, Adam." The older man gratefully smiles at Lance, and adjusts his glasses. "Now let's go out there before Shiro kills someone. Before I came to get you, he was just about ready to start an intergalactic search for you, convinced that you'd been kidnapped by Druids again." Adam laughs and rolls his eyes.

"You know what? I'm not even surprised." With that, he lets Lance lead him out of the bathroom and to the gazebo.

"It's him, Keith!" Shiro says excitedly, and points. Keith looks up to see Lance and Adam emerge from the Garrison's main doorway and walk down the aisle.

"Finally," Keith mutters under his breath as Lance takes his place next to him. "What took you so long?"

"Glad to see you too," Lance whispers back as Coran starts to make the opening statements. "I had to convince him that Shiro loves him."

"Is it that hard to tell?" Keith replies with an eye roll.

"Oh, you're one to talk. How long did it take for you to realize I had feelings for you, again?"

Keith glares at Lance, but doesn't reply because Shiro is starting his vows. They both turn to face the grooms.

“Adam, Adam, Adam,” Shiro says with a soft smile. “Ever since you danced your way into my simple, unimpressive life with your stories of the stars, you’ve brought a light into my life that nothing can compare to. You’re the most kind, beautiful, and smartest person I’ve ever met. You carried me through practically every group project we had to do in the Garrison,” Shiro grins, earning a loud laugh from the audience.

 _Ugh, he’s making this look so easy_ , Adam thinks with a twinge of envy. He tries not to think about the fact that once Shiro’s done speaking, it’ll be his turn to make his vows, right here in front of everyone.

“I would always love it when you would talk about space, because your entire face would light up, and you were so passionate when you talked. Even though I thought I knew everything about the cosmos, when you explained them to me, it seemed like there was so much left to learn. And I was excited to learn about the universe- as long as I had you by my side.

“You were always so patient and kind to me, even though I probably bugged the hell out of you. Despite how annoying I was, you stayed with me, and later, you continued to stay by my side. When I had to leave home, you and your family took me in, and your kindness inspired me to bond with Keith. You looked at me like I was crazy when I brought him home, and the first thing you did was pull me aside and ask, ‘Isn’t that the kid who stole your car?’ But you tried your best to get close with him because you knew how much it meant to me. Even when I was diagnosed and I tried to end things because I didn’t want you getting hurt, you refused to give up on me, promising me that you’d make the last few years of my life the best ones.

“So Adam, here I am now, promising you I’ll never give up on you. You’ve been with me through good times and bad. I carried you in my heart as I had my crazy little adventure in space, and I would always repeat what you used to say to me when I would bomb a test or fail a simulator: Patience yields focus. Now that we’re back together, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you, Adam, and I won’t ever stop loving you. We’ve always been stronger together, and only by being separated from you did I learn how much I need you. You complete me, Adam. I vow to cherish, love, and to protect you from harm for the rest of our lives together, and I vow that nothing, come hell or high water, will ever separate us again.” With that, Shiro completes his vows. Adam gazes lovingly at him, wondering how he ended up with a man as perfect as Takashi Shirogane.

And then it's his turn to speak, but nothing comes out. All the confidence Lance had given him has vanished, and he's standing on the gazebo, in front of the prying eyes of thousands of humans and aliens.

"Adam?" Coran asks, looking at him, concern in his eyes. "The vows?"

“Er... I didn’t write any vows,” Adam says, staring down at his feet. “It’s not like I didn’t try to,” he adds quickly, “it’s just, nothing I could write was good enough. So, I’m just going to say what’s been running through my head... if you don’t mind.” Adam flushes, and he glances over at Lance, who gives him an encouraging nod. He takes a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves.

“When the Kerberos mission crew were pronounced dead, my world fell apart. At first I didn’t believe that Shiro was dead, but as months passed with no more news, I  started to blame myself, thinking that maybe if I had tried harder to convince him to stay, he wouldn’t have died. Then when Keith and the three cadets went missing, the only person who understood my pain about Shiro’s death was suddenly gone. Those years were, by far, the worst years of my life. I couldn’t find the energy to get through day after day, and eventually... I didn’t want to do it anymore. There was a time where-“ Adam’s voice cracks. “Where I- I tried to-“

Shiro grabs Adam’s hands, and his eyes are pleading, begging Adam to tell him it’s not true. Adam looks away and changes the subject.

“But then, lo and behold, Sam Holt comes home on an alien ship, alive and well. He told us about the Galra, Voltron, the missing cadets, Keith... and Shiro.

“I volunteered to be in the first wave of pilots sent to attack Sendak’s ship. I knew that Shiro had been busy protecting the universe and all, and I knew he must have been through hell and back. I volunteered because I wanted to do my share of the protecting, and because I wanted him to have a planet to come back to. That didn’t go too well,” Adam nervously jokes. He gets a laugh from the crowd, and his confidence is boosted.

“I thought I was going to die when my plane was shot down, but some of Haggar’s Druids pulled me out of my plane and took me back to her ship. I didn’t find this out until a couple months into my captivity, but she sent them on a special mission to retrieve me. I didn’t understand why until I got back here.

“She had seen Shiro’s memories, and had seen me in them. Haggar probably would have tried to capture Keith before me, but Keith had not one, but two giant metal lions he had bonded with, not to mention the eyes of the universe on him. She must have decided that I was an easier target, and then captured me to have some leverage, operating under the assumption that Voltron was going to confront her at some point. So I was imprisoned and forced to kill for the Galra’s entertainment, and I was the subject of her experiments for two years.

“The one thing that kept me going was knowing that Shiro was somewhere out there, alive.” Shiro has been crying ever since Adam mentioned his attempts, but now he claps a hand over his mouth, trying to keep from sobbing aloud.

“ _Adam_...” he chokes out. Adam rests his hands on Shiro’s shoulders.

“I needed to tell you how I felt. I couldn’t let that fight be the last conversation I had with you. Not when I had so much more to say to you.

“Takashi, it’s because of you that I’m the man today. I’m so ready to spend the rest of my life with you and grow old together like we always wanted to. I’m going to keep the promise I made all those years ago- I will protect you, to the best of my ability. When you’ve been in danger, I’ve been known to do some crazy things,” Adam says with a smirk, “like linking my essence to a huge attack robot, then using said robot to throw an evil space witch into a supermassive black hole.” The crowd laughs, and Adam feels even more encouraged.

“And if you even think about running back off to space without me, Takashi, you’re going to face my wrath.”

Shiro laughs, then replies, “I don’t want to do it without you, Adam. I never want to be away from you for that long again.” He looks passionately into Adam’s hazel eyes, and starts to lean in for a kiss.

"Wait! Wait! Don't I have to marry you first?!" Coran interrupts, anxious not to mess up this ceremony, which seems to be very important in human culture. He doesn't want to offend the earthlings, but it's hard for him to remember all the quirks of a human wedding. "Oh, right, the rings! Don't you have rings? Where are they?" Keith pulls a slivery whistle out of his pocket and blows into it. An instant later, a mass of glowing blue fur occupies the space where Keith was standing.

"Ack! Cosmo! Get off!" With considerable effort, Keith manages to push the cosmic wolf off of him and stands, dusting strands of blue fur and dirt off his tuxedo. Adam snickers when he sees that someone (((read: Hunk))) loosely tied a white bow tie around Cosmo's neck. Attached to the red collar Keith gave him are two small black boxes. Keith grabs them and hands them to Shiro and Adam. Shiro opens his box to his own silver ring.

"Er, I think we need to switch boxes," Adam says, laughing. Shiro grins, and he exchanges his ring for Adam's identical gold one.

"Keith!"

"It's not my fault the boxes are identical, Lance!"

"Shut up guys, I'm going to miss it!" Pidge says, irritated by their bickering.

"Shiro, you first," says Coran. Shiro gently places the gold band on Adam's left ring finger with his bionic hand. His fingers linger on Adam's, and he meets his lover's eyes.

"With this ring, I thee wed."

Adam feels like he's dreaming as he sets the ring on Shiro's finger, and, eyes misty, he says, "With this ring, I thee wed."

"I now pronounce you husband and wife!" 

Hunk walks up to Coran and whispers in his ear, then subtly goes back to his spot.

"I mean, I now pronounce you husband and husband! You may kiss the b- I mean, groom!"

With that, Adam dips Shiro, and they finally have the kiss they've both yearned for all these years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is only part one but I'm just sitting here grinning like an idiot I LOVED WRITING THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH
> 
> (I didn't love writing this chapter more than I loved writing Adam's moment in the last chapter but still)
> 
> I  
> LOVED  
> THIS  
> CHAPTER


	6. Reception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> okay, look. I know I said I wasn't going to make this into its own chapter, but this ended up being waaaaaay longer than I expected.
> 
> Also, Adam's peanut allergy in this chapter is a reference to @revolocities on twitter- his adashi art gives me life honestly and if y'all haven't already, you should go check out his account!
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the wedding reception!

After the ceremony, of course, there are photos to be taken. The gray bricks of the Garrison walls aren’t exactly the most photogenic, and Shiro can tell that Adam isn’t happy with the photo location. But Shiro has an idea.

“Adam,” he says, suddenly, “will you come with me for a second?” Shiro makes sure that he has both a RoverCam and Adam in tow as he walks toward a nearby double seat fighter jet. “I want to get a special picture with you.”

“Oh, do you want it to be us in the plane, sitting how we used to in school? That’s so cheesy, Takashi,” Adam laughs, getting in the co-pilot seat. Shiro boards the the plane, taking his usual place in the pilot seat. “Alright, RoverCam, take the picture! Or wait, let’s buckle up first,” Adam jokes. Shiro smirks, and the plane starts to move. Adam is focused on trying to buckle his seat belt (stupid thing, it always gets jammed!), so he doesn’t notice the plane moving. “Finally,” he mutters as it clicks into place, and he glances upwards to the RoverCam. But he’s surprised to see that the hood of the fighter is down, and the plane is now lined up with the runway, preparing to take off.

“Good thing you fastened your seat belt,” Shiro says, then pushes down on the throttle.

“Hey, where are Shiro and Adam? Aren’t they supposed to be in this photo?” Lance asks innocently. He’s getting tired of taking photos and just wants to eat, dance with Keith, and enjoy the party. Keith shrugs at him, but then they both jump when they hear a loud engine start nearby. They turn just in time to see the fighter take off, and watch as it loops through the air.

“What the-“ Keith starts, but is interrupted by Allura, who can’t help but get a sense of deja vu.

“Oh no! What if that’s one of Shiro’s clones, and it’s kidnapping Adam?! This is exactly what happened with Lotor!”

“What is it with everyone and thinking Adam’s getting kidnapped today?! He can take care of himself,” Keith snaps, rolling his eyes. “Even before he got ‘upgraded’ by Haggar, he could judo flip Shiro. He and Shiro both did martial arts for years. Hell, he survived as Haggar’s champion for longer than Shiro did! Everything is fine, they probably just wanted a breath of fresh air. After all, security here is super tight.” He glances around and realizes a lot of the assembly are still worried. “I’ll go after them in the black lion. If I don’t contact you within an hour, come after me.”

Meanwhile, in the cockpit of the runaway plane, Shiro tries to concentrate on flying as Adam yells at him.

“Takashi, what the hell?! They’re going to shoot us down, you know how they are! You turn this plane around right now or I’ll-“

“Aha! We’re here!”

“Wha- augh!” Adam grabs on to his seat as the plane dips downwards into a nosedive. “ _Takashi_!!”

The plane lands, (miraculously) intact. Even for a pilot like Shiro, landing in such a small space was difficult. He walks off of the plane, and offers a hand to Adam. Shiro realizes maybe he shouldn’t have done so many tricks in the air- Adam’s hair is all messed up now, and his bionic eye is out of alignment. The brown-haired man smacks the side of his head to fix his eye and glares at Shiro, but takes his hand and disembarks.

“You little shit,” Adam mutters, “why couldn’t you just tell me you were going to take off?”

“It’s all about the element of surprise, dear. Have you even noticed where we are yet?”

Adam scans his surroundings, taking in the swaying trees and the calls of various forest birds. He can hear a river flowing nearby, and he realizes he knows this place.

“This... This is where we had our first kiss,” Adam says, stunned. He’s shocked that this small patch of forest survived the Galra invasion relatively unscathed. Sure, Adam’s nearby childhood home is completely destroyed, and patches of the woods are burnt, but somehow, this small clearing remained unscathed. There’s still a deep sadness within Adam whenever he remembers that his home was burnt to the ground, and all his family is most likely dead. But right now, he looks at the white-haired man smiling at him like there’s nothing he’d rather see than Adam’s happiness, and he realizes, he hasn’t lost everything, not yet. “Thank you, Takashi,” Adam says, “for bringing me here.”

Shiro rests his head against Adam’s, gently removes his glasses with his good hand, and pulls his now-husband in for a kiss. He can feel Adam’s eyelashes tickling his cheek as their lips meet, and he smiles into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Adam’s waist. Playfully, Shiro moves his bionic hand slightly lower, giving Adam’s rear end a tight squeeze. He laughs when Adam jumps and pulls away.

“If we didn’t have a reception to go to, I swear, Takashi, I would throw you in the river!”

“I don’t doubt it,” Shiro responds. “Speaking of the reception, we should probably take our pictures now and head back. I mean, it’s only been a few minutes, but-“ He’s interrupted by the sound of a camera shutter. He looks at the RoverCam, surprised. “Did it hear me?”

“No, it’s programmed to lock on to human faces, then take pictures every fifteen seconds,” Adam responds automatically. Then he realizes. “Oh my god Takashi, it’s been taking pictures of us this entire time!”

“Well, let’s take some professional looking ones now, at least,” Shiro says, then he smiles into the camera. The shutter clicks again and again, and Adam gets an idea. After taking a photo where Adam was piggyback riding Shiro, Adam starts to count down from fifteen. He and Shiro pose, giving each other bunny ears for this photo, but Adam keeps counting down.

When he reaches three, he winds his hand back and yells, “TAKASHI SHIROGANE, I’M GOING TO DESTROY YOUR ASSHOLE TONIGHT!” Just before the camera snaps the photo, he slaps Shiro’s ass.

Boy, Adam can’t wait to see that photo.

“Adam,” Shiro groans (once he recovers.)

“What? I had to get my revenge somehow,” Adam teases, punching Shiro’s arm.

“Wow, I wish I could unhear that,” says a voice, and Keith emerges from the woods. _Man, what is it with this kid and appearing randomly?! It must be because of Cosmo_ , Adam thinks.

“Keith!” Shiro says, clearly embarrassed. Adam’s worried that if his boyfriend- _no, husband_ , Adam reminds himself, not without a thrill of excitement- turns any redder, he’ll explode. Keith closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“Look, I don’t want to know. Are you two ready to go back, or what?”

“Pretty much, but here, Keith, come take some pictures with us,” says Adam. After snapping a few photos of the three of them, Adam makes sure to switch the RoverCam off and he heads back toward the plane. Immediately, he notices a problem. “Uh, Takashi,” Adam calls, looking back over his shoulder at Shiro, “how are we supposed to take off in the middle of the forest?”

“Great question!” Shiro exclaims. After a short pause, he adds, “I have no idea. Keith, can we hitch a ride?”

“Fine. But don’t do anything disgusting, or I’ll have to hear about it from Black for months.”

* * *

As the sun dips below the horizon, most of the wedding guests have finished their dinners and are talking amongst themselves. Cosmo prowls around from table to table, begging for scraps. He ends up hovering around the Garrison group’s table because Iverson, Coran, and Rizavi can’t help but sneak their food to him. “Whaaat?” Rizavi asks when James nudges her and glares, having caught her feeding the cosmic wolf at least ten times now. “He’s such a good boy!” Leifsdottir, Allura, and Romelle can’t help but giggle, and even Kinkade gives a slight chuckle. Romelle gazes around the room, enamored by the beautiful sunset, the round, floating lights, and, of course, the princess sitting next to her. When she glances over at Allura, Romelle is surprised to find that Allura’s looking at her. Their eyes meet, and both Altean women look away, blushing.

Meanwhile, Shiro watches, slightly concerned, as Adam scarfs down his third plate of food. “Honey, er, I know how good Hunk’s cooking is, but… we still have to save room for cake later…” Adam looks up from his food and raises an eyebrow at Shiro. He gulps down the bite he was chewing.

“For the past two years, I’ve been eating whatever the hell the galra have been feeding me, and for the past two weeks since we got home, the doctors have kept me on a diet of a ton of tasteless shit. I’ll stop eating when I want to,” he says, and returns to his food. Shiro runs a hand across the back of his neck and gives a sheepish smile to the rest of the table.

“Well, I’m glad you enjoy it! I spent hours in the kitchen earlier, both supervising the other chefs and cooking. I hear you’re quite the chef yourself, Adam,” Hunk says earnestly. Adam nods, not looking up from his plate. “Maybe you could teach me a few of your tricks sometime?”

“Kid, I’ll probably learn more from you than you’ll ever learn from me, but I’d love to cook with you sometime. Just promise you’ll keep Takashi here out of the kitchen,” Adam says, eyes twinkling with mischief.

“Hey,” Shiro complains.

“Heh, reminds me of the time Shiro almost burned down our whole dorm building,” Matt pipes up. “It was when Adam got sent on that trip to the moon. Shiro wanted to celebrate Adam’s first flight in space and surprise him with a home-cooked dinner. But alas, poor Shiro was too incompetent in the culinary arts, and he somehow managed to burn spaghetti.”

“Okay first of all, I didn’t burn the spaghetti, I just wasn’t paying attention to the sauce and it boiled over and made a bit of smoke!”

“‘A bit’?! Shiro, all the fire alarms in our dorm went off!”

The whole table laughs, and Shiro hides his head in his hands. Adam wraps an arm around him and says, “Don’t worry, Takashi, I still love you.”

Pidge feels the happiest she’s felt in... well, years. Ever since the Kerberos mission, her life had been filled with chaos and confusion. There were times when she thought she’d never be with her whole family again, and seeing her mom, dad, and brother all relaxed and carefree at this wedding makes her feel an indescribable elation. But there’s even more joy in Pidge’s heart when she sees the paladins, who became like a family to her, with their own blood relatives. She leans her head on Matt’s shoulder, and he messes with her hair.

Finally, Adam finishes his fifth plate of food, and everyone toasts to the newlyweds. Keith, who is Shiro’s best man, rises to give his speech (which Keith has practiced for hours in front of a mirror, and then in front of Lance. Lance helped Keith edit the speech.) Keith clears his throat.

“The first time I met Shiro, I stole his car. But when I got caught, after driving halfway across the desert, may I add, he bailed me out. I didn’t understand then, but now I think I do. Shiro saw something in me that I couldn’t see in myself, and he genuinely wanted to help me reach my full potential.

“At first, I refused his help and was cold towards him. I thought he would kick me out when he found out my little secret, just like the last foster family did. But after we had bonded, I accidentally let it slip that I liked boys. After I realized what I’d said, I ran off to my dorm and started packing my things, sure that my days at the Garrison were over. But Shiro found me and told me that he had someone he wanted me to meet- his boyfriend, Adam.

“I was shocked to see how comfortable Shiro was with his sexuality. By living with him and Adam, I was able to learn that it’s okay to be gay, that I don’t have to be ashamed of loving who I love. And that was the first step of a particularly long journey of coming to accept and love who I am.

“While I never had the same bond with Adam that I had with Shiro, Adam was still an important part of my life growing up. I was angry with him for breaking things off with Shiro because of Kerberos, and I refused to speak with him after Shiro told me what had happened between them.

“Then, Kerberos happened. I flunked out of the Garrison because of several discipline issues, and went out to live in the shack near where my childhood home burned down. I was angry, confused, scared, and unable to comprehend that the man who’d become my big brother was dead. That first night in the shack, I cried and cried, staring at the stars, wondering how they could be so cruel, to take away who I thought was the only person who cared about me.

“But then I heard a car pull up outside. I opened the door, and there Adam was, holding bags of groceries he’d bought for me. He told me he knew that he was probably the last person I wanted to see, but that he wasn’t just going to leave me to starve. After supplying me with a week’s worth of food, he left, without a word.

“Eventually, as more weeks passed, I decided to talk to him. It was all small talk at first, but as we got closer, we started telling each other more. I told him about the weird energy I sensed in the desert, which turned out to be the blue lion. He told me that there was a mission to Kerberos planned in a few months, and that he was going to pilot it. We still had walls up.

“The first time I ever saw Adam break down was when his Kerberos flight was cancelled. All the emotions he’d been holding in finally spilled over, and suddenly, I understood. He missed Shiro so much, and had wanted to at least be able to recover his body to bring him home, and now he couldn’t even do that. Ever since Kerberos, Adam had been quietly tearing himself apart, both regretting his last conversation with Shiro and blaming himself for Shiro’s death.

“But despite you feeling that way, you made sure I was healthy, clothed, and fed. I treated you like shit those first few weeks, and I’m sorry, Adam. I was so lost in my own suffering that I couldn’t see how much you were hurting.” Keith makes eye contact with Adam, and the man gives him a grateful smile. Shiro taps Adam’s shoulder and Keith sees him mouth _thank you_  to him.

“Fortunately, I was able to learn from my mistakes. While we were in space, Shiro didn’t really talk about Adam with the group, but I could tell he was thinking about him. When we were finally able to come back home, Shiro was so excited, but also very nervous, to see Adam again. Shiro couldn’t really express his emotions when he found out about Adam’s supposed death because we were in the middle of a battle, but once the battle was over…” Keith pauses, reflecting on those dark times. “He declined rapidly. He was distraught that his last conversation with Adam had been their breakup, and he blamed himself for Adam’s death. So, years after I left Earth, once I found myself back on this planet, I was in pretty much the same situation as when I left.

“And of course, just as Shiro was starting to accept Adam’s death, who do we run in to? The man himself, Adam Wright. When I rescued you two from Haggar, I was amazed because, despite everything you’ve been through, you were looking at each other as if you were still just the twenty year olds who wanted to explore the universe together. Even though the odds were stacked against you, your love for each other fueled you to survive in conditions too harsh for most of us to even imagine. And you both never gave up on the other while you were away, even though you knew you were presumed dead. Everything was against you, but now that you’re together, nothing will be able to tear you apart, not even the universe itself. I hope you two are as happy the rest of your lives as you are right now, because you deserve it,” Keith says, then adds a “Thank you” to let the audience know he’s done speaking.

For a moment, it’s dead quiet. Keith is starting to worry that he said something wrong, but suddenly the wedding guests go wild with applause. There’s not a dry eye in the house as Keith soaks up the applause, then takes his seat. “You killed it, great job,” Lance yells to him. Even though Lance is sitting right next to him, Keith can barely hear the red paladin.

The applause eventually dies down, and Matt stands. “Well shit,” he says, “how am I supposed to follow that?!” He slaps Keith on the back and gives Pidge a fist bump. Despite everything, Matt still has his same sense of humor.

“I guess I’ll start at the beginning, since Keith wasn’t lucky enough- or perhaps, in fact, lucky- to have experienced when Shiro and Adam met. We were all twelve, and were just choosing who our roommates would be. And I was so excited to room with my best friend, Adam! We’d known each other for years, and when we both got in to the Garrison, we were so relieved to have each other. But then some twink named Shiro stole my roommate before I could even claim him!

“By the end of the first week, I was sure that Adam was going to ask for a new room assignment soon. After all, Adam wouldn’t shut up about how much he hated this Shiro kid. Since they both wanted to be pilots, they were always competing for top marks. But, alas, I ended up becoming friends with Shiro in science- he was my lab partner for the year. Needless to say, Adam wasn’t’t happy when he found out about our friendship. As a matter of fact, when Shiro found out I was friends with Adam, he felt pretty betrayed too.

“Somehow, I ended up being the messenger between them- even though they were roommates! Adam would say something like ‘oh, go tell Shiro I’m going to kick his A-S-S in the sim test next week!’ And then, of course, Shiro would respond to him through me, and it would just keep on going. I got fed up with it, so one day, I walked into their flight class and yelled, ‘IF YOU TWO WANT TO TALK TO EACH OTHER, JUST TALK! I’M NOT DOING THIS CRAP ANY MORE!’ and walked out.

“So of course, at lunch, Adam comes up to me and starts to apologize, but then, Shiro walks over to apologize, and Adam falls silent. They’re both staring daggers at each other, and I said, jokingly, ‘wow, look at all that sexual tension!’” Matt hastily adds, “Of course, I didn’t even really know what sexual tension was. I only knew what the average just-turned-thirteen year old boy knew.

“But Shiro and Adam both got really flustered when I said that, and were a bit too slow to deny it. Particularly Adam- but I probably noticed his reaction more because I knew him better. And that was when I knew something was up.

“Then came the two years of mutual pining. Adam still talked about Shiro, but it became less spiteful, and as Shiro and I grew closer, he eventually talked about Adam even more than Adam talked about him. Adam already knew he was gay from a young age, so he realized that he had a crush on Shiro around the end of our first year. But poor, dense Shiro didn’t even realize his own sexuality until the middle of our second year.

“Finally, in the middle of third year, they officially started dating, and the rest is history. While their overbearing affection mainly grossed me out, their love for each other also inspired me. I knew that someday, when I got myself a significant other, I wanted to find someone who looked at me the way you look at each other. That’s how I knew Khione here,” Matt says, and gestures to the alien woman, “was the one for me. So thanks for helping me out there,” he says, earning a laugh from the audience. Matt hesitates for a moment.

“I don’t mean to get all sappy or anything, but... you two are the best friends I’ve ever had. When Shiro hurt me so that I wouldn’t be killed in the gladiator ring, and we got separated, I thought I’d never see either of you again. I’ve missed both of you so much, and being able to see you two here together, getting married after all this time, after everything... It feels like a dream,” confesses Matt. The lump in his throat grows as he says, “Congratulations, guys. No one deserves this more than you two.” Matt was planning to say more, but he’s overwhelmed by happiness for his two best friends, who feel more like brothers at this point. The guests applaud as Matt hurries back to his seat, but his beeline is arrested when Shiro and Adam get up and grab him, pulling him into a hug. “You two are both such saps,” Matt laughs, wiping a tear from his eye.

“Says you,” Adam teases, breaking away from the hug. Grinning at Matt, he adds, “You were the one who made me watch all those cheesy romantic movies.”

“Are you referring to the Mamma Mia series?! I’ll have you know, those are classics! Oh, but why am I talking to you about movies? You guys have to do your first dance! Go on,” Matt says, practically shoving his friends onto the dance floor.

Adam faces his now-husband and, with a huge grin, wraps his arms around Shiro’s shoulders. He can feel Shiro’s arms wrap around his waist, and he closes his eyes as the music starts.

**Now that she's back in the atmosphere**   
**With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey**   
**She acts like summer and walks like rain**   
**Reminds me that there's time a to change, hey, hey**   
**Since the return from her stay on the moon**   
**She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey**

As Adam sways to the music, feeling the gentle pressure of his lover’s arms around him, a memory surfaces.

_“Let’s get married,” Shiro says, out of the blue. Adam moves his eyes from the star-filled sky to face the boy next to him. It’s late August, and Adam has just turned eighteen. Ever since they started dating, Shiro had spent his summer breaks at Adam’s home. Almost every night, they’d gone out to the place they first kissed to see the night sky, and tonight was no exception. They’re lying in the grass, side by side on their backs, stargazing._

_“Any particular reason you’re saying that now?”_

_“I dunno. You’re eighteen, and I’ll be eighteen in March,” Shiro replies, still gazing up at the stars. The universe reflects in his dark gray eyes. “Also, it’d be nice to have an family again, at least officially,” he adds with a twinge of bitterness. Adam squeezes his hand tightly._

Adam quietly sings along with the lyrics of the chorus so that only Shiro can hear.

**Tell me, did you sail across the sun**   
**Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded**   
**And that heaven is overrated**   
**Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star**   
**One without a permanent scar**   
**And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there**

_Shiro won’t meet Adam’s eyes, but latches on to Adam’s hand. “I guess... I guess I’m afraid of losing you, the way I lost them. I don’t want you to leave. Adam, can you promise me you won’t leave me?”_

_“I promise I won’t leave you, as long as you promise not to do anything so stupid that I’m forced to leave to protect you. The only way you can lose me is if you take a risk, and your life’s at stake. Then I would leave to try and convince you not to take the risk.”_

_“And what if I took that risk, but came out of it alive?”_

_Adam sighs. “I’m not sure. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to just stop loving you, but I can’t stand watching you put yourself in harm’s way. Maybe we’d eventually get back together, but I’d need years to think about it.”_

_Shiro sighs, still staring up at the endless sky. A moment later, he says, “Y’know, at our wedding, I think our first dance should be to Drops of Jupiter. And we can have a nice wedding at the Garrison, have all our friends be the guests... oh, we can have a peanut cake...”_

_“Um, I’m allergic to peanuts,” Adam replies. Shiro finally looks at him, and his huge grin outshines all the stars. He laughs loudly, and Adam joins in, both boys cackling and howling. They spend the rest of the night planning their wedding until Shiro falls asleep, right there in the grass. Adam carries Shiro, bridal style, back to his house, and gently sets him down on the guest bed. He pushes Shiro’s black hair back and kisses his forehead._

_“I will always protect you, Takashi.”_

**Now that she's back from that soul vacation**   
**Tracing her way through the constellations, hey, hey**   
**She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo**   
**Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey, hey**

A slight smirk crosses Adam’s face as he remembers that conversation and thinks about the irony of it all. He’d been right about himself- initially, when Shiro left for Kerberos, the heartbroken Adam had no intentions of reconciliation. But when he’d been given years- six years, eight months, and who knows how many days, Adam doesn’t care any more- he knew he couldn’t let Shiro go.

**Now that she's back in the atmosphere**   
**I'm afraid that she might think of me as plain ol Jane**   
**Told a story about a man who is too afraid to fly so he never did land**

After learning that Shiro was still alive, part of Adam was worried that he wouldn’t be good enough for Shiro, or that Shiro had moved on, or that Shiro resented him for leaving.

As they dance together, Adam leans in for a kiss, realizing just how lucky both he and Shiro are to be having this moment.

**Tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet**   
**Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day**   
**And head back to the Milky Way**   
**And tell me, did Venus blow your mind**   
**Was it everything you wanted to find**   
**And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there**

Shiro shakes his head after Adam pulls out of the kiss and rests his head against Shiro’s chest. He’s thinking the same thing as Adam, about how lucky he is to be here right now.

Isn’t it ironic? Shiro’s only here because he was kidnapped, cloned, and then put into the body of his clone. If he hadn’t gone to space, he probably wouldn’t be alive right now. But the again, Adam’s only here because of Shiro, too. If Haggar hadn’t cloned Shiro and accessed his memories, Adam would have died, most probably slowly and painfully from his injuries. When you think about it that way, it seems almost impossible for things to have worked out this way- but sometimes, reality is stranger than fiction. Shiro gazes at the brown-haired man before him, relishing in the fact that he’s alive, safe, and now, his husband.

**Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken**   
**Your best friend always sticking up for you... Even when I know you're wrong**   
**Can you imagine no first dance, freeze dried romance, five-hour phone conversation,**   
**The best soy latte that you ever had... And me**

Shiro remembers every stupid thing he and Adam did, from going to the local supermarket at 1am, to laser tag, to watching Coco for the sixteenth time, to rollerskating, and he remembers how happy he feels with Adam by his side.

**Tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet**   
**Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day**   
**And head back toward the Milky Way**

**Tell me, did you sail across the sun**   
**Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded**   
**And that heaven is overrated**   
**Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star**   
**One without a permanent scar**   
**And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there**

As the song reaches its end, both Shiro and Adam realize that it has a whole new meaning to them now. The final line of the song plays-

**And were you lonely looking for yourself out there?**

-and Shiro tightens his arms around Adam, and whispers: “I was.”

Shiro and Adam filter away from the dance floor as a new song starts to play. Adam presses Shiro’s hand on the side of his face, and leans his head against it. Shiro looks deep into those beautiful hazel eyes and murmurs, “Adam... when I went out there, searching for my dream... I didn’t realize that what I wanted and needed was right here beside me. I was a fool to leave you, and I’m never going to make that mistake again. I love you, Adam. So, so much.”

“I love you too, Takashi.” They spend the next few moments leaning against each other, each basking in the other’s warmth.

Meanwhile, Romelle observes the dancing from the sidelines, thinking about how strange, and yet how beautiful, this Earth custom is. She can’t help but giggle when she spots Allura on the dance floor, being taught dance moves by Rizavi and Pidge. Veronica, who’s dancing with Lance, notices Romelle’s staring and approaches her.

“You should ask her to dance,” Veronica says, and Romelle jumps. “Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“What do you mean, ‘ask her to dance’? Isn’t she already dancing?”Romelle tilts her head, confused.

“Well, technically, yes,” Veronica replies sheepishly, “but asking someone to dance with you is considered, here on Earth, as romantic. Since Allura’s been around people longer than you, she probably will understand what you mean when you ask her.”

“What?! The princess would never want to be romantic with me! And besides, I don’t feel that way about her,” Romelle adds hastily, blushing.

Veronica chuckles and says, “Oh come on, you two have been checking each other out all day. Even Cosmo could tell there was something going on between you.”

With an indignant huff, Romelle finally admits, “So maybe I do like Allura in that way. But that doesn’t change the fact that she won’t want a commoner like myself.”

“Well, you’ll never know for sure if you don’t take the chance.” Romelle hesitates for a moment when she hears this, and looks down at her pastel colored dress. She twirls a lock of her long blond hair, and finally stands. Giving a quick nod to Veronica in thanks, she musters as much courage as she can and strides on to the dance floor.

“What was that about?” Lance’s voice says, and Veronica turns around. Her brother is approaching her, holding two cups of fruit punch. “Punch?” he asks, and Veronica gladly accepts.

“What do you know about the princess and Romelle?” Veronica asks, feigning innocence.

“I haven’t talked to Romelle all that much, but Allura adores Romelle. She’s always talking about how Romelle did this, or how Romelle saved her from that. Methinks she doth have a little crush,” Lance replies. “While I was sorta jealous at first, I’m really happy for her. It’s good to see that she’s moved on from Lotor. Why do you ask?”

“Let’s just say, ye olde matchmaker just worked some of her magic,” Veronica says with a smirk. Lance gasps.

“Did you just set them up?!” Veronica nods, and Lance continues excitedly, “¡No lo creo! ¡Romelle y Allura van a estar novias! ¿Qué Dijiste?”

“Yo solo dije Romelle que ella deber preguntarse para un bailando,” she says, matching Lance’s Spanish. “Ahora, vamos a ver que pasa.”

“Ah, Romelle!” Allura excitedly waves when she spots the other Altean heading towards her. “Watch this,” she exclaims, and she makes several movements with her arms. “It’s called ‘dabbing’! Nadia and Pidge taught me!” Romelle fidgets nervously, and looks down to her feet. This reaction from her makes Allura feel nervous, and she wonders if she somehow offended Romelle. “Romelle... did I say something to-“

“Princess, will you slow dance with me?! In a romantic way,” Romelle blurts out, shocking Allura. “I, um, I think I have liked you this way since I met you, it’s just, you’re so strong, and beautiful, and you listen to me when I talk, and you have saved me more times than I can count, and... I don’t know, I guess I wanted to confess my feelings... I know you probably do not feel the same way, but I had to t-“

“ROMELLE!” Allura lifts up the taller girl in a hug and swings her around. She’s ecstatic, and Romelle feels so relieved she might cry. “Oh, I wanted to ask you so much, but I was so worried that you wouldn’t feel the same way about me! Come on, let’s dance! I think there’s a nice slow song that will play after this, and I can teach you how to dance!”

Coran looks on proudly as Allura and Romelle start awkwardly slow dancing. Romelle is clumsy and keeps stepping on Allura’s feet, but the blue paladin just laughs and continues to dance with her fellow Altean. Besides him, Krolia is watching as Keith talks to Shiro and Adam, laughing along with them. “They grow up so fast, eh?” Coran says, and Krolia nods.

The song ends, and it’s time to have cake. Shiro shoves the first slice of cake into Adam’s face, and says, “That’s for making me think you were dead for two years!”

Adam, not to be outdone, smashes the cake into Shiro’s face and yells, “That’s for actually dying _and_ making me think you were dead for four years, you son of a bitch!” But then he leans in and starts licking the cake off of Shiro’s lips, making the white-haired man blush profusely.

After everyone has their cake, people start to slowly filter out, but there’s still a lot of dancing going on. Keith and Lance slow dance together, and finally admit that they’re a couple publicly. Romelle seems to have gotten the hang of it, and she glides gracefully along with Allura. Colleen and Sam dance together next to Hunk and Shay. Matt tries to dip Khione, but he loses his balance and they both tumble to the ground. Khione shakes her head, laughing, and gives him speck on the cheek.

“Look at how happy everyone is,” Adam sighs contentedly. Shiro observes the faces around him, all glowing with joy, then he rests his gaze on the beautiful man in front of him, with those hazel eyes glowing with pride, hope, and love. “Everyone here has been broken, scarred, even, at times, hopeless, because of the war... Some of them have lost everything- their homes, families, friends... Our former lives have been shattered, and yet, somehow we all managed to pick up the broken pieces and start anew. It’s amazing to see that even the people who’ve lost the most still can be happy,” Adam muses.

“Damn, you should be a poet or something,” Shiro replies, making Adam throw his head back and laugh.

“You’re such a dumbass, Takashi,” Adam says fondly, and he pulls Shiro in for a kiss. It starts as just a quick, tender kiss, but before he knows it, Adam’s tongue is in Shiro’s mouth, and he’s groping at Shiro’s back. Shiro’s just as eager, too, grabbing Adam’s hair as he kisses Adam back, grinding his hips against his husband’s. Unwillingly, they break away from each other, and excuse themselves to their room.

They’ve barely even made it inside the room when Adam pins Shiro on the bed. They undress each other while Adam kisses Shiro’s neck. Both of them have waited for so long for this moment- well over four years for Shiro, and Adam, almost seven years. They’re so desperate for each other, so starved and depraved, that the whole world around them fades away, and it’s just them, here and now, truly and utterly enamored with each other. Adam stares longingly into Shiro’s eyes, and he knows that, finally, everything will be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VGVCUEGHVSJCHNUWGNFXHUIDANYIUA THERE WAS SO MUCH IN THIS CHAPTER THAT MADE ME SO HAPPY TO WRITE ABOUT
> 
> I'M SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO UPDATE, BETWEEN HOMEWORK, COLLEGE APPS, SAT SUBJECT TEST PRACTICE, AND PERSONAL STUFF, I HAVEN'T HAD A TON OF TIME TO WRITE I'M SORRY
> 
> I changed my mind about what my next fic is going to be- instead of the mermaid au, I'm going to write about the A Wrinkle in Time crossover I stayed up all night thinking about. I haven't got the whole au figured out yet (after all, I just came up with it a few hours ago, and hey, I've been writing tonight too, not just thinking about that au), but I think y'all will like it!
> 
> At the end of the chapter, you may be wondering why I didn't write the sex scene. It's mainly for two reasons: primarily, I want to acknowledge that healthy gay couples may choose to have sex and that it's okay, but I didn't describe it because that's not really the focus of the fic, and also, I wanted to keep this fic rated teen.
> 
> The next chapter is going to be the final chapter of this fic, and chapter 8 will be extra scenes and headcanons (wait, would they even be called headcanons since I'm the author? Since I created this au, all the stuff in the extras chapter is canon, so... hmmmm... idk what to call that.)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the wedding :') my boys are all grown up


	7. What Happens After

Krolia, Kolivan, and the BOM transition the Galra Empire into a more of a democracy, and rechristen it as the Republic Of Marmora. The Republic, now and forever, will be an ally of the Voltron Coalition, and works to establish universal peace and cooperation. Despite constantly traveling through the universe to keep peace, Krolia always makes sure to visit her son.

Coran and the Holts continue to work on integrating Altean tech with Earth tech. Our favorite gorgeous man actually ends up starting an intergalactic scientific league. The goal of it is for species from all different planets and galaxies to come together and share their wisdom for the collective good of the universe. Coran knows that, wherever Alfor is, he’s proud.

Sam Holt never flies in space again. He decides to stay on Earth with his wife for the rest of his days, and lives a peaceful life as a scientist. Colleen also contributes to the scientific community as a biologist. She studies alien DNA and eventually is able to cure genetic diseases for both humans and aliens. Sam and Colleen both win Nobel prizes in their respective fields, and are well-renowned all across the universe.

Matt, who’s in the prime of his life, travels all over the universe, collecting scientific data from all corners of it. With Khione by his side, he researches wormholes, dark matter, dark energy, white holes, and other theoretical physics concepts. Matt has a knack for getting in trouble with aliens, and Khione often has to smooth things over with the locals. Eventually, she and Matt decide to perform a sacred ritual in Khione’s culture (which is like her species’ way of getting married.)

Iverson becomes the head of the Garrison, and he makes sure it’s the best school on Earth. While he’s still very strict as a principal, Iverson is more fair now than he was before. Veronica, James, and Nadia (Rizavi) become teachers. Veronica pretty much takes Iverson’s old spot in the Garrison, but she’s the teacher that seems like she’s going to be super strict at first, but as the school year goes on, she’s totally chill. James is the one teacher that everyone’s scared of - he teaches first-year and second-year flying classes, and god forbid you slack off in his class. Nadia teaches history, and she’s the most relaxed teacher of the three. But that doesn’t mean she lets herself get walked all over by her students - if you’re just being lazy in her class, or you’re being disruptive, you will face her wrath.

After the war is over, Kinkade starts off as a news cameraman on the same station with Ina Leifsdottor. Ina is a meteorologist on TV at first, but eventually, she’s the one doing all the scientific work on the weather. Kinkade ends being a very successful movie director, and he even wins an Oscar!

The paladins all stick together and, when they need to, form Voltron, but outside of their universe-defending work...

Allura goes on to become a universally renowned diplomat, and is considered the head of the Voltron Coalition. Together with Romelle, she travels to the Altean colony and frees her people. The Alteans end up staying on Earth and living alongside humans. Eventually, after a busy life of traveling across the universe, Allura and Romelle settle down and decide to get married. They enjoyed the two weddings they’ve been to so much that they decide to have an Earth wedding of their own.

After the wedding, Allura (now known as Queen Allura) goes back to something she’d sort of forgotten about, with everything else going on: Altean alchemy. She continues the research which Honerva started, but Romelle, who knows firsthand of the corrupting nature of the Quintessence field, is able to watch over her and make sure Allura doesn’t become corrupted. They live long, happy lives together.

Pidge, after she’s sure the universe is safe, actually lives on Olkarion for ten years or so. Of course, she uses the green lion to visit her family back on Earth and keeps in contact with them, but her home is on Olkarion. Ryner is able to teach her many of the Olkari’s technological secrets.

Using her knowledge from Olkarion and the capabilities of the green lion, Pidge is able to essentially rebuild Earth’s ecosystems that were destroyed by the Galra attack. Because Pidge resurrects the forests of Earth, climate change finally starts to reverse. Ina and Pidge develop a very close friendship later in life. After Olkarion, she travels around the galaxy, studying alien technology, but her home is always on Earth.

Like Pidge, Hunk also studies alien tech, but he learns from the Balmerans, mainly. Shay teaches him how to communicate with the Balmera, and Hunk is able to incorporate its crystals into all sorts of Earth technology. He also becomes the head engineer at the Garrison, and remains a diplomat for most of his life. After years of dating, he and Shay eventually get married, and they adopt a couple of Balmeran orphans. They’re a very happy family!!!!

Earlier, I mentioned that Romelle and Allura had been to two Earth weddings, the first, of course, being the Adashi wedding. Believe it or not, the second wedding they went to was the Klance wedding! After dating for a few years, Keith finally decided to pop the question. (There’s going to be a one-shot I write about their proposal shenanigans, so stay tuned!) They’re the first of the group to get married. At first, Keith doesn’t really want kids (he has a lot of insecurities about being a parent, while Lance is very eager to adopt), so our boys start their family off by getting a ton of pets. First, they adopt two cats named AJ and Rose Oak (of course, Cosmo’s still around, these are just their first pets on Earth.) But neither Lance or Keith can say no to any animal that happens to wander into their house, so they end up with like 30 pets. Since all of the paladins, in return for their service, have been given huge estates both on Earth and on other planets, the number of pets isn’t really a problem.

But one day, Keith happens to meet a scrawny, dark-haired kid named Nico, and he sees so much of himself in the kid that the next thing he knows, he’s signing the adoption papers. Together, he and Lance are able to give Nico the parental love he lacked in childhood, and he’s very grateful. But what Nico doesn’t know is that he gave Keith the confidence to be a parent. So when Lance tells Keith about this one kid, Jeremy, that he met at an orphanage recently, Keith doesn’t hesitate to adopt. In fact, Keith and Lance end up adopting several kids because Keith wants to give them a better life, just like Shiro did for him. Lance doesn’t mind. After all, he grew up with a fairly large family, so it’s helpful for him, after the war, to be helping out kids again.

And finally, of course, let’s see how our main couple is doing!!

Shiro, while not technically a paladin, is given the same thanks as the others, both on Earth and throughout the universe. Shiro and Adam spend five whole years on their honeymoon, traveling the world. They go everywhere, from Hawaii to Antarctica, from Machu Picchu to the Serengeti, from Mexico to Europe, from the Nile to the Amazon. Adam marveled at the masterful water engineering of the Ancient Romans, while Shiro learned about all three world wars. They end their honeymoon in Japan where, to their surprise, Shiro has become a national hero.

After living in Japan for a year or so, they go back to the Garrison, but they’ve adopted four Japanese kids: Ayano, Tsubomi, Kousuke, and Shuuya. They stay with the kids until they’re grown. Eventually, they decide that they want to go on one grand tour of the universe, so Shiro and Adam boot up Atlas, and using the new Balmeraltean tech that Pidge and Hunk installed, they’re able to open up wormholes and travel with ease. At one point in the journey, Adam thinks about how years ago, his only dream was to travel the universe with Shiro, and now, as he’s getting close to 50 years old, they’re finally fulfilling that dream. And when they get back to Earth, Adam realizes he’s fulfilled a different dream, one that he hadn’t fully realized until now; he’d grown old with Shiro.

Adam and Shiro stay together for the rest of their lives, surrounded by loving friends and family, and their days are filled with peace and happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JGDYDUFFTUWGHJWYIRWTUVETIGRERW THE MAIN STORY IS DONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE FOR READING, AND STAY TUNED FOR THE EXTRAS!!


	8. Extras

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, we finally made it! It's the end of this fic!
> 
> This won't be the last I write about this AU, though. I enjoyed writing this so much that I decided to write a couple of short stories about certain things that happen afterwards, like the Klance proposal shenanigans! I already have a title for the first one, it's going to be called "Adam and the Evans"! If you enjoyed some of the funnier moments in this fic, you'll love that one, because it's full of them!
> 
> Now, let's get to it!

**Stuff I wanted to have happen in this fic originally but didn't have time for:**

\- I was originally going to have Shiro and Adam have a dance fight in the gladiator ring, but then I remembered that I had Haggar watching the fight, so she would have put an end to that very quickly.

\- I was originally going to make this more of a slow burn adashi fic, but the situation those two reunited in kinda forced it to be more of a quick thing.

\- Lance was originally going to be Adam’s best man, but I realized it would make more sense to have Matt be his best man. After all, Adam presumably has known and been friends with Matt for years, whereas his friendship with lance has really just bloomed in the couple of weeks he’s been back on Earth.

\- Adam and Lance do end up developing a lifelong friendship though.

\- There was going to be a scene at the wedding where Kinkade was talking to Lance, and he asked if he could hang out with him sometime and they could go shooting together, but Keith took it the wrong way, and he just grabbed Lance and kissed him in front of everyone, and that’s how they finally came forward about them dating.

 

**Stuff that's canon but I didn't mention:**

\- Adam’s Galra eye can shoot lasers.

\- Eventually, Pidge, Matt, and Sam are able to reprogram Adam’s leg and eye so they feel friendlier to him.

  
\- Haggar's intentions were to pit her two champions against each other in a fight to the death. Then, whichever one survived, she would continue to experiment on because that’s the stronger one.

  
\- I meant what I said about the reaction to Keith’s best man speech- EVERYONE is crying. Iverson, James, hell, even Kinkade sheds a couple of tears. I imagine that Krolia and Kolivan are off in the corner somewhere, with Krolia having a single tear coming from her eye (because she’s just so proud!! that’s her boy!!!!!) while Kolivan loses it and is sobbing into her shoulder. Call it ooc, but I imagine Kolivan hasn’t experienced a lot of happy events in his lifetime, and now that he’s at something this joyful his emotions just malfunction and he cries.

  
\- Vrepit Sal was part of the cooking crew for the wedding.

  
\- In the wedding, Pidge and Rizavi taught Allura how to dab and whip. They also taught her the Macarena, the chicken dance, the cha-cha slide, and the Cupid shuffle.

  
\- Speaking of dance, Allura already had been taught how to slow dance by the man, the myth, the legend, Lance McClain, back when they were in space. Allura knew what she was doing when dancing with Romelle, and knew what being asked to dance meant, it’s just Romelle kept messing it up lmao

  
\- Although Lance and Allura never end up together, they still remain best friends for the rest of their lives.

  
\- Lance unknowingly switches to Spanish when he’s feeling very strong emotions, particularly when he’s very excited.

  
\- Romelle and Allura’s first dance is to “100 Years” by Five for Fighting.

  
\- The song that all the couples dance to at the end of the wedding is “The Way You Look Tonight”.

  
\- All of the paladins’ kids are best friends, I do not take constructive criticism on this.

  
\- You can’t really tell that Adam has a new eye when he’s in the light, but when it’s dark, Adam’s galra eye reflects light (like a cat, y’know what I’m saying?)

  
\- Even though Adam taught Shiro how to swim, Shiro becomes a better swimmer than his husband because of all the underwater training he had to do for Kerberos.

  
\- In Shiro’s flashback in chapters 1 and 3, it may seem like Adam’s being smooth- but that’s because we’re only seeing Shiro’s perspective. While Shiro thinks Adam was being smooth, in actuality, Adam was just as flustered as Shiro!

  
\- In purple furry jail (yes, Adam calls Galra prison that), Adam grows his hair out. It becomes long enough that he can wear it in a ponytail, and he has it in a bun for the wedding.  
\- Also, even though the Galra fixed his eyes, when he gets home, Adam still wears his glasses. It’s because they remind him of who he was before, and they kind of become a comfort object for him.

  
\- Kinkade’s Oscar is for a movie about Voltron, but in a futuristic setting. The main characters are Leandro and Akira, and the film is called “Defenders of Tomorrow” ;;;)))))

  
\- Pidge uses her knowledge from Olkarion to create and hatch velociraptor eggs. She raises them, and they become like her friends/lab assistants/children.

  
\- The five velociraptors are named after Pidge’s fellow paladins.

  
\- When Lance finds out about the velociraptors, he starts calling Pidge Chris Pratt.

 

**Road trips:**

\- All of the paladin couples take their kids on space road trips.

  
\- Hunk and Shay’s in the yellow lion are the best, because Hunk and Shay are really good travel buddies, and their kids love road trips. Most of the time, their road trips are to Olkarion to visit Pidge, and the kids love it there! (Since the Balmera moved so close to Earth, it’s not really a road trip to travel there, it just takes a minute or so in the yellow lion.) But sometimes, they’ll go on vacation to other planets which were freed from Galra rule by Voltron.

  
\- Lance and Keith don’t usually go on road trips, because they don’t want to leave the pets and because Lance doesn’t like to leave Earth, but every once in a while, they pack everything up, load up into the black and red lions, and head off into the stars (don’t worry, either Iverson or Nadia takes care of the pets!) The poor kids have to deal with Lance and Keith constantly racing each other, or daring each other to do stupid stunts. Lance prefers to visit Earth-like planets, while Keith wants to visit every single old BoM base. On one of their road trips, Keith introduces the kids to Krolia (who is instantly very protective of them. If anything happened to any of these kids, she would be out for blood.)

  
\- (Note: I’m not sure if I mentioned this in the last chapter or not, but Romelle and Allura end up adopting an Altean toddler, who was an orphan from Lotor’s colony.) Since it’s a while from when Romelle and Allura bring the colony to Earth to when those two finally decide to make a home on Earth, the first part of their daughter’s life with them is spent traveling the universe. The blue lion becomes their home for the next few years, and Blue doesn’t mind at all. In fact, Blue loves the young Melenor (named after Allura’s mother) so much that eventually, Melenor is able to pilot the blue lion!


End file.
